Machinations
by waveform
Summary: It's six years after So the Drama, and Kim is fighting the good fight as a Global Justice agent. Now, after a botched mission, she finds herself fighting side by side with the Autobots against the Decepticons and Mech. Will she survive long enough to get the answer to the question that's driven her since that fateful night? AU, KP/Transformers Fusion
1. Chapter 1

_**Kim Possible and all related characters are the property of Disney. Transformers and all related characters are the property of Hasbro.**_

 _ **The Transformers used will be a mixture of Generation 1, Beast Wars, the IDW Comics series (which is fantastic, by the way), the Aligned Continuity (The**_ **Prime** _ **and**_ **Robots in Disguise 2015** _ **TV series and the Fall of Cybertron and War for Cybertron video games), and a smattering of**_ **The Unicron Trilogy (Armada, Energon,** _ **and**_ **Cybertron)** _ **and**_ **Animated** _ **.**_

 _ **This is going to be a much different story for me. It's going to be darker and not as happy, so be warned. It's also written in the first person, which is something I don't normally do in any of my writing. It works for Jim Butcher's**_ **Dresden Files** _ **books so I decided to give it a try here. And big thanks to Classic Cowboy for giving me his blessing on this. He wrote my all time favorite KP/TF story, and I didn't want him to think I was trying to steal his thunder. So if you haven't already, go read**_ **Kim Possible: Transformed.** _ **You won't be sorry! Now, on with the story.**_

* * *

If I made it through this in one piece, I was going to have such the talk with the people in intel. This had to be, by far, the biggest screw up on a mission I have ever dealt with. This was supposed to be a quick, easy strike on a Worldwide Evil Empire storage depot. We were supposed to just get in, take out the guards, confiscate the weapons, and grab all the information they had saved on their computers. No fuss, no muss, in and out. Yeah right. This was such the disaster. WEE goons are easy. These guys were most def not.

My name is Kim Possible, I'm a Global Justice Agent, and I am so about to get my head taken off! Instead of Gemini's lackeys, I was face to face mask with a bunch of guys (and they're all men) wearing dark green tactical body armor complete with hoods, masks and goggles, and armed with tech I've only ever seen in a science fiction movie _._ Our shock watches and my battlesuit weren't doing squat against these guys. My partner, Will Du, was already pinned down, and I was doing my best not to take a laser blast to the face.

The guys in green jumped at me, and I somersaulted out of the way. I may have been four years out of high school and five years out of cheerleading, but my martial arts training was more than up to it. Unfortunately we were in an industrial complex out in the middle of nowhere with absolutely no cover. So I kept running, jumping and flipping, trying to stay clear of the trigger happy guy trying to turn me into Swiss cheese. He shot, I dodged. He shot again, and I dived out of the way. He tried to get a bead on me, and I saw my chance. I started to go left, and he took aim. I shot right at the last minute, rolled, and did a forward handspring. My foot connected with his jaw, and he flew back, leaving his gun behind.

I grabbed the weapon, and it looked like something that raccoon guy from _Guardians of the Galaxy_ would have been packing. It was held like a shotgun, but it was big and boxy, and surprisingly lightweight. "Du! Heads up!" Will looked up and saw me pointing the ray gun at him. I saw him mouth an expletive and duck. Come on, Will, I'm not _that_ bad on the firing range. Besides, I wasn't aiming at you or the guy trying to shoot you. I was aiming for the SUV that had just brought in more of those jokers.

I got that gas guzzler in my sights, squeezed the trigger, and was knocked back by the force of the blast that erupted from the barrel of that thing. A concentrated beam of red light flew out of the barrel like a crimson lance, and right into the SUV's gas tank. It went up like my last attempt to grill a hamburger. Will looked up at me with panic in his eyes. Served him right for the last mission we went on. No one leaves me hanging from my ankles over a magma pit and gets away with it. I smirked at him. Yeah, I was ticking him off, but he so deserved it.

I heard a loud explosion coming from the stronghold. It looked like our friends were trying to take their ball and go home by blowing the place up. The complex was a series of old seismic research buildings in California along the San Andreas fault. Or at least, that's what they were supposed to be. The United States Geological Survey had no record of the place, even though everyone else had it listed as one of theirs. That was the red flag. Add in the intel our people said they had, it looked like a prime location for Dr. Director's idiot brother to set up shop. To be honest, I think our guys got the information from Wikipedia.

I dropped the gun (I know, not that smart, but guns so aren't my style) and took off into a sprint. I needed to get to that stronghold before it went up like a roman candle. I ran across the uneven rocks and dirt of the drought stricken landscape, dodging gopher holes as I went. Then something happened that I had never seen before, and that was a rarity these days. A bright green portal appeared out of nowhere, and a big black motorcycle that looked like a Harley Davidson came shooting out. The bike was ridden by a big guy who was wearing the weirdest armor I'd ever seen in my life! It looked like he had some kind of curved blades on his shoulders.

Blue blasts erupted from the rider's hands, sending the goon squad flying in all directions. He pointed his mammoth arm at the bad guys, and more of the blue fire sprayed out. He was making short work of a bunch of guys who had me on the ropes for the last twenty minutes I was so not down with this. Will and the other four guys in our squad came up to me.

"Who are these guys?" Will asked. He was still getting the grime and metal shards out of his hair.

"You've got me," I replied. "Who else knew about this place?"

Will didn't answer. Oh yeah, we were so going to have a chat with the intel boys about dropping the ball on this one. But that was a fight for later. Right now, I wanted to know who it was that was flinging around the kind of ordnance you normally see from super villains. I took off again, making a beeline for the guy on the motorcycle who was making us all look like rookies (I will not use the word amateurs. I still get enough of that from Will). The bike was running circles around these jokers, painting the place with blue lighting. No way was this guy taking these guys down before I got some answers.

"I think it's time we got acquainted with these creeps!" I took off after the biker before Will or any of the others could hold me back. I saw one of our bad guys trying to get on an all terrain vehicle, and I dissuaded him. Translation, I did a flying kick that left him flat on his back after my foot smacked him upside the head. I got the ATV, and a sore leg to go with it. That guy either had such the hard head, or more armor in that mask than even Wade could make. I revved up and followed the dust clouds left by the reject from a post apocalyptic motocross show.

I finally caught up to the guy about a mile away from the supposed WEE outpost. He had about a half dozen of the green freaks on the run, but they weren't running without a fight. They were all on a flatbed truck, and all but the driver were firing energy weapons at me and the biker. Those guns would have made Dementor giggle, and then shout about how they would be his. It was a good thing he was currently under lock and key. It was bad enough _these_ guys had this kind of ordnance. It was high time I relieved them of it.

I pulled up beside the mystery motorcyclist, and got a better look at him. His hands, if you could call them that, were just clawed fingers jutting out of where his arms ended, and they were _HUGE_ arms. They were like cylindrical tree trunks, and were attached to the rest of his body by what looked like posts coming from where the shoulders on a normal person would be. There was no physical way those arms should be able to work. And those arms were long, too. They went from those claws to what looked like severely curved plates about a foot after his arms should have ended at those faux shoulders. Come to think of it, his legs were huge, too!

I was right that the bike was a Harley. A big black one with silver accents. It matched the rider's armor. His arms, legs, and helmet were black, and his torso was the same silver. His visor seemed to glow blue. He was covered head to toe, but even with that coverage I could tell he wasn't too happy about me muscling in on his turf. Such the tough luck, pal! We were here first, and this was our takedown!

"You need to back off!" the rider shouted at me. His voice was like a hoarse, gravely roar. He sounded like he had the worst case of laryngitis I'd ever heard, or like that guy who played the Fearless Ferret in those recent movies.

"Not happening" I shouted back. "This is my case, and I don't need a reject from a 90's sci-fi movie getting in my way!"

I barely dodged a blast from the truck. So sue me, it had been a while since I'd bantered on a mission. Just a few short hours away from six years, to be precise. That reminder gave me an extra boost. I wanted to end this mission so I could spend the day remembering like I did every year! I opened the throttle up as far as it would go and redlined the engine. I was going to get close to the truck's engine compartment, and then use my shock watch to short out the electrical systems. It was times like this that I really missed Wade's tech (with the exception of my battlesuit, and I had to fight tooth and nail to keep that), but I knew what I would be giving up when I went pro and joined Global Justice.

I was closing on them fast, but these guys were smarter than some of the other villains I'd fought against. They didn't shoot at me, they shot at where I was going to be. The front tires went right into the big hole they just blasted, and sent me flying. In moves a daredevil would be proud of, the biker swerved, jumped over a few rocks, grabbed me and slung me on the back of his bike. "This is so embarrassing," I muttered.

"I told you to back off, Possible!"

"So not gonna happen," I shot back. "And who the heck are you to be giving me orders?"

"Name's Sideways," he said. "And Mech are nothing like anything you've ever faced before." He rubbed one of those monstrous arms of his. "Trust me on this."

I smirked at him, even though he couldn't see me. "Sounds to me like you need some backup then."

Before he could reply, the goons, or Mech as Sideways called them, opened fire again. Sideways worked that bike like it was an extension of himself, but even he couldn't dodge all the laser blasts and chunks of earth. We both went flying off the bike. Sideways hit like a ton of bricks, but I went into a roll. I came up into a crouch just in time to see the truck hang a major U-turn and come back for us. "Well scrap," I heard Sideways say as he got the bike back up on its wheels. "They're coming back for another pass." If I could've seen his eyes, I bet they would've been glaring daggers at me. "And this is why I told you to back off!"

"I can take care of myself. I've been dealing with losers like these since I was in high school."

He bristled a little. "Not like these guys."

I looked at him, then looked over at where the truck had pulled to a stop. "Look, we are seriously outnumbered here. You need to get your head in the game!"

"My thoughts exactly."

The air was filled with the metallic sound of gears moving and plates shifting. The motorcycle looked like it was going to pieces. The side panels popped out, and the seat folded down. The bike sprouted arms, and the exhaust pipes angled on them like some kind of blasters. It sprouted legs and stood at full height, somewhere around eight feet tall, if I was any judge. The wheels and the assembly they were attached to moved and shifted until the wheels were jutting out of the back, where the shoulder blades would be. The windshield became some kind of chest plate. The only thing missing was its head. That's when my mind was really blown.

Sideways jumped straight up, and he started to change. Those extra large arms and legs folded and unfolded, wrapping around Sideways' body, and plates on his sides and back moved to cover his head and fill in the gaps. A blue visor slid into place, covering the last of the silver. He had turned into a jumbo version of his own head, and connected to the motorcycle. He then pointed the exhaust pipes at the the truck, and they split open. Blaster barrels extended out, and blasts of blue energy lanced out. He blew up the back of the truck, making the Mech guys run for cover.

I smiled. This was a sitch I could handle. I grabbed one of them, and threw him at one of his buddies. Then I kicked another in the chest (I was ready for armor this time), and sent him flying into to more goons. Then Sideways picked two of them up and slammed them into each other. It took a few minutes, but we had them on the ropes. Until another truck came barreling down on us from out of nowhere. A guy packing some kind of bazooka popped out of the passenger side window and took a pot shot at me.

Sideways jumped in front of me and took the full hit. He flew over my head and landed in a heap five feet away from me and kicked up a lot of dust when he hit. When that dust cleared, we were alone. "Great. They got away."

"You're welcome," Sideways grumbled. When I looked over at him, I saw that his right leg was messed up. The metal was torn, wires were exposed and sparking, and he was leaking some kind of glowing blue liquid. He pulled himself onto his feet, and almost stumbled. His head popped off and changed back into the rider while the body transformed back into the motorcycle. He looked at the damage to the bike and his shoulders slumped. "Ratchet's gonna kill me."

I looked at where the bad guys had been, and then over at Sideways. Even though he wasn't connected to the bike anymore, it looked like he was hurting. "Thanks," I finally said. "And I'm sorry you got hurt."

"As you like to say, no big."

"You seem to know a lot about me," I said.

He shrugged. "Who doesn't know about Kim Possible. The girl who can do anything."

I groaned. "Yeah. Not so much anymore."

"As fun as this has been, I need to get back for repairs." Sideways held his hand to the side of his head. "Hey, Kup, open the ground bridge. And let Ratchet know I'm gonna need his repair kit. I got roughed up a little." That green vortex opened up as Sideways got back on the bike. It may have looked like a wreck, but it still roared to life. "See you around, Possible." With that, he road into the vortex, which closed up behind him.

I scowled at him. I hated when people said "see you around, Possible." I really hated it, and I wasn't sure I liked the guy who just said it, either.

By the time I got back to the others, it was clear that the whole mission was a complete wash. Not only that, but there were several military cars and trucks idling in front of the stronghold, as well as what looked like a whole platoon of Army rangers. Will Du was getting the riot act by one of them, but he was holding his own. That's the thing about Will, he can give as good as he gets when he thinks he's right. And he always thinks he's right.

Then a wind picked up, and I had to shield my eyes from it. If I still had the long main of auburn hair I was once known for, it would have looked like my head was on fire. As it was, my shorter 'do was still going all over the place as the Army helicopter came in for a landing. From out of it jumped a tall African American man with a pot belly and a blue suit. "What in the Sam Hill is going on here?" he shouted over the chop of the rotor blades.

"I could ask you the same thing!" I got a good look at him when he stopped in front of me. He was tall, and had a stomach that hung over his belt, his sport coat didn't look like it could close, and his yellow and blue striped tie didn't cover that belly of his. But he had a strong jaw, a steely gaze, and a look of determination I'd like to think I used to get back in the old days. "This is a SMART operation and you just got in the way!"

The man looked over me with the same look Mr. Barkin would give... would give Ron. He waited for the gale and the noise from the chopper to wind down as the rotors slowed to a stop. "It wasn't too smart from where I was standing," he finally said.

I tried not to growl at the guy. He was talking down to me and I don't take too well to that. "S, M, A, R, T," I said. "Special Missions, Action and Reconnaissance Team. And this was our mission."

The man just folded his arms across his chest. "I know what SMART is. You're Global Justice's elite strike force."

"Since you know us," I said, "don't you think it's rude that we don't know you?"

He straightened up and pulled his ID from out of his sport coat. "Special Agent William Fowler with Unit E."

I groaned. "Please tell me Agent Trakker didn't send you." I had enough problems last year when that guy tried to recruit me.

"I'm not with the MASK division, soldier," he said.

"I'm not a soldier! I'm-"

"I know who you are, kid. You're Kim Possible; former teen hero, and currently Betty Director's protege. You're also-"

An explosion cut Fowler off before he could finish his sentence. Will, Fowler and I were all thrown in all directions. When I looked up I saw one of those green guys, only this one was wearing some kind of exoskeleton that made him look like something out of an _Iron Man_ movie. I wiped the dirt off my face, and activated my battlesuit.

This was actually a newer version of Wade's old design. It was black with blue trim, instead of white with blue trim, and it didn't have all the bells and whistles the old one did. The energy shield, shapeshifting gloves with their energy redirection abilities, fabric regeneration and adaptive camouflage functions were too much for the suit's systems to handle. It kept crashing. This one could regenerate, had armor reinforcement, and it could make me stronger and faster. But what it was best at was amping up my agility. I narrowed my eyes when I felt the suit come online. "Let's do this."

I leaped into the fray, taking the goon's attention away from Will and Fowler. "Hey! Creep! Can't you hit anything?" My trash talk wan't in the same league as Ron's, and I was really missing having him make with the distractions, but I was on my own. Fortunately for me, the goon took the bait. He took his attention away from the others, and focused solely on me. Also fortunate was the fact that the guns on his arms and back would make a loud whining noise and light up just before they fired, giving me time to get out of the way before I got blasted to bits. Too bad the handheld guns didn't do the same thing. Maybe I wouldn't have wrecked that ATV if they had.

He shot, I dived out of the way. He tried to get me back in his sights, and I was already long gone. I needed to get behind him and hope that his guns couldn't turn a hundred and eighty degrees to nail me. I ran for him and jumped, letting the battlesuit give me the extra height I needed. I landed on his back, hanging from one of the cannons. He tried to swat at me as if I was a bug. Luckily for me, his arms were too bulky for him to reach me. Unluckily for him, I had a clear shot at the guy's face. "Lights out!" I cocked my arm back and let a punch fly. I wouldn't have been surprised if his eyes crossed before he blacked out. Too bad I couldn't see them under those goggles.

The exoskeleton kept him on his feet, so all I had to do was drop down off his back. I powered the suit down, dusted off my hands, and walked towards Fowler. "And that's why this was a SMART operation." I looked at the shock watch on my left wrist left wrist. It was almost midnight. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have an after action report to write, as well as a ton of paperwork to fill out." I looked over at Will and the others. "Let's get out of here."

"Wait a second, Possible," Fowler said, reaching for my shoulder. I spun around and grabbed his arm. "I don't answer to you. The mission is over. It was a loss. I have paperwork to fill out."

"A loss?" The look of confusion on his face made me confused. "This is the first of these guys we've ever caught!"

"Look, Fowler, I don't know who these Mech creeps are, and I don't care. We came here expecting a different adversary from the one we found!" No reason to tell him who and what we were after. I looked over at Will, who looked like he was finally getting his smug swagger back. "Agent Du, let's go."

Fowler grumbled, but let us go. Not like he had much choice anyway. He wasn't our boss, and he knew it. And I wasn't lying about that paperwork. I swear I spent more time writing and filing reports than I did in the field. I wanted to get that done and get home so I could at least pretend to get a couple hours of sleep. I had an appointment the next day, and I had no intention of missing it. I hadn't missed it the previous four years, and I wasn't going to start now. Besides, Rufus would start to worry if I didn't get home before three AM. He could be such the worry wart.

* * *

There were some people, like Will Du, who thought me doing this every year was stupid. No body was ever found, so this was an empty grave. But being here, I don't know, it helped me. Like meditating, I guess. I could sit here in the peace and quiet of the cemetery and think about my failures, and what brought us here. It was for me, and it was for Rufus, who was curled up on the small grave marker in front of me. I felt the stinging in my eyes start up for the fiftieth time today. But I wouldn't cry. I didn't deserve to. It was my fault he was here. Well, it would have been if he actually was here. Like I said, no body. But given the explosion and the fire, that wasn't a surprise. Not even Drakken and Shego got out alive.

Actually, it was more than one explosion that destroyed Bueno Nacho Headquarters. We think the explosion started in the main control center that Drakken was controlling the Diablos from, and that set off a chain reaction of smaller explosions that tore the building apart. No one got out alive, and the investigators didn't find much in the way of physical remains. The best forensic anthropologists in the country were brought in, but the fires were so hot, and the explosions so intense that not a lot survived.

But at least we found Shego. Or at least, a piece of a female pelvis. And Shego was the only woman there, so we know some of her remains were recovered. Most of what was recovered were charred pieces of teeth and a few bone fragments. Whatever pieces of Ron were left were intermingled with those of Drakken and his goons. There wasn't enough left of anyone to fit in a shoe box.

God, I hope he didn't suffer. I hope it was quick, and that he didn't feel it, or even see it. It was bad enough that he died alone. I couldn't take it if he spent his last moments in agony.

I hung my head. "I'm sorry, Ron. I'm so, so sorry."

My eyes shot open when I heard a pair of people coming up behind me. I quickly stood and spun around, coming face to face with Fowler, in that same blue suit, and another guy in a pair of blue jeans and a plain black polo shirt. He had wavy brown hair and the kind of face that would have made me go all ga ga back when I was a teen. This guy was the definition of a golden hottie. I didn't trust him. The last hottie I met wasn't what he seemed. "What are you doing here, Agent Fowler?"

"At ease, Possible," he said. "I just came here to have a chat."

"And how did you know exactly where I'd be?"

"That one wasn't easy," Fowler's companion said. He held out his hand. "Agent Samuel J. Witwicky," he said. "But you can call me Spike."

I picked Rufus up, who was now growling at our uninvited guests, and put him on my shoulder. It took a while for him to be okay with me, and it felt good to have someone watching my back. "That didn't answer my question."

"Your friend Agent Du told us," Fowler said. I should have known. Will never did know how to keep his mouth shut. "Look, Possible, it's come to my attention that you encountered one of our, ahem, more colorful operatives last night."

"The head case," I said.

"That's one way to describe him," Spike chuckled.

"Look, Agent Fowler, I have a better than top secret security rating. You don't have to worry about me spilling any of your secrets. Are we done here? Because I'd like to get back to doing what I was doing."

That was when Spike went around me and looked at the marker. "Ronald Stoppable," he read. "Son, Friend, Hero. Not a lot of people know what he tried to do at Bueno Nacho headquarters that night." He looked over at me. "But then again, from what I've read, Stoppable didn't get a lot of the credit he deserved. Not even after he gave his life." He came over to me and put his left hand on my shoulder. I saw the gold band on his ring finger. He was married. That meant he wasn't some kind of wrong-sick Kim bait. I relaxed. Maybe this Spike guy wasn't so bad after all.

Fowler took Spike's place at Ron's marker. He stood tall and saluted. "At ease, soldier," he said. "Rest well." Great. They were both being nice guys. I so hate trying to tell someone off after they've been nice!

"Look, Agent Fowler," I said in a much less confrontational tone, "this is my personal day. This is the only day of the year I take for myself. Rufus and I come here, remember Ron, then I go and spend the evening with my family and Ron's. I don't know what you want, but it can wait until tomorrow." With that, I walked off, heading towards the parking lot. I would come back later. I'm sure Ron would understand. The cooing noises Rufus was making told me that the little mole rat understood. It was so nice having him not hate me anymore. Now if only I could stop hating myself over this.

When I got to the paring lot, I saw a yellow 1970's muscle car with black racing stripes parked next to my car. And Fowler and Spike were hot on my heels. "I'll get right to the point, Possible," Fowler said. "We need you with Unit E."

That's what I was afraid of. I spun around and looked both Fowler and Spike in the eyes. "I'll tell you what I told Agent Trakker last year. I'm so not interested. I've worked with and for Global Justice since I was in high school, and I'm happy there. I'm doing a lot of good." Not as much good as I did as a freelancer, but still good work. I unlocked my car and opened the door. "I appreciate the offer, but the answer is no."

"You took down a heavily armed Mech operative single handed," Spike said. "And he was sprung from our custody before we could get him back to base for interrogation. You know how to deal with high tech adversaries, and right now we need that expertise."

"You have the guy on the motorcycle," I pointed out. "He seemed pretty high tech to me, and he could handle himself against those Mech guys."

"Sideways is good," Fowler said, "as is the rest of the unit he's part of." He loosened his already loose tie. "Look, kid, we need you. If I have to, I'll go to Dr. Director herself and see if she'd be willing to temporarily place you under my command." My blood started to boil at that one. "Just think about it. Spike and I are going to be in town until tomorrow afternoon." He pulled a business card out of his coat pocket and handed it to me. "That's my cell number." He and Spike got in the sports car, started it, and quietly pulled out and left.

I looked at Rufus, and he was growling at the departing agents. "Jerks," he squeaked.

"That's a kinder word than I would've used." I took him off my shoulder and held him close to me. "But you're right." I looked back at the cemetery, and the empty grave that acted as Ron's final resting place. It looked like I wasn't going to be coming back here tonight after all. _I'm sorry, Ron,_ I thought. _I guess I keep failing you._ I started the car and just sat for a minute. Then I looked down at Rufus, who was sitting in the cup holder. "As Ron would say, this tanks."

* * *

True to his word, Agent Fowler went right to Dr. Director, and she was tweaked! I stood in her office early the next morning while Agent Fowler plead his case. He was in that same suit again. Didn't he ever change, or did he just have several versions of the same outfit? Spike, on the other hand, was wearing a black suit and tie. He looked like he was from the CIA, or something.

"You read Possible's report," Fowler said. "And you read the materials on Mech that I provided."

Dr. Director leaned back in her chair, steepled her fingers, and glared at the party from Unit E with her one eye. "What you gave me wasn't much."

"That's because we don't have much." I could tell that was a painful admission for Agent Fowler. "These guys are always one step ahead of us, and we think they might have some people on the inside. That's one of the reasons we need Possible. She's got experience with these kinds of adversaries, and she's an unknown quantity in Unit E and the military. She might be able to give us an advantage over Mech. There are other considerations, as well. For the last few years Unit E has been involved with some clandestine operations. I'm not at liberty to go into details, but Agent Possible has encountered one of the operatives involved."

That got my interest. "The head case? There are more like him?"

"Not exactly," Spike said. "But he's not unique."

Fowler looked over at me. "And I have something to offer." He nodded at Spike, who produced a file folder. "That is the technical specifications of a mothballed weapons platform called Project Damocles."

Spike handed it to me, and I gave him and Fowler a questioning look. "Why give this to me now, and not wait until after I've agreed to work with you? For that matter, why give it to me at all?"

"Call it an olive branch, Possible," Fowler said. "You still have my number. We won't be heading back to base for another couple of hours." With that, he and Spike left. I was about to follow them out when Dr. Director stopped me.

"Agent Possible, a moment please. And close the door." Uh oh. Closed door meetings with the boss were usually a bad thing.

I collapsed into the nearest chair. "This is so the drama," I muttered.

"You can say that again," Dr. Director said. She started to rub her temples. One of the things I learned about Dr. Director since joining GJ was that she was prone to migraines. It looked like she had one brewing.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

She let out a tired chuckle. "Not really. There's this Mech mess, intel dropping the ball with what we thought was a WEE base, and now they're blaming each other for the mix up, and then there was the attack on NORAD three nights ago. According to the troops on the ground, it was three unmanned F-22's."

"Drones?"

"If they were, they're the most advanced drones I've ever seen. It just seems like things are going from bad to worse, and that means this is one time when I don't want to be losing one of my top agents." She thought for a moment. "Speaking of, I understand it was Du who told Fowler and Witwicky where to find you. What are you going to do about it?"

I gave an evil grin that Shego would have been proud of. "I'm sparring with him this afternoon. He just doesn't know it yet."

That made Dr. Director chuckle. Then she pulled out a white file folder. "I also wanted to talk to you about your latest psyche eval." I groaned at that. I started seeing a shrink three months after Ron died, and I see the GJ psychiatrist once a month now. "Dr. Wellsley is happy with your progress. You have better control over your anger, but still seem to be suffering from survivor's guilt."

I hung my head. "Ron tried to convince me what Drakken was up to with the Lil Diablos," I said, "and I brushed him off! So he went on his own. I don't know what happened to him at Bueno Nacho Headquarters, only that something made the building blow up! And no one lived to tell the tale! So yeah, I've got survivor's guilt. I don't know if I'll ever get over that."

Dr. Director stood up, circled her desk, and came over to me. "I've lost a lot of good friends over the years. Some of them as a direct result of missions I sent them on."

"Ron took this one on his own. He didn't even take Rufus with him!"

"Exactly!" Dr. Director said. "He did this on his own. Ron understood that it might be a one way trip, but he did it anyway. That makes him a hero, even if no one gets his name right." She sat down beside me. "Now, what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to read this file," I said. "I've never heard of Project Damocles, and I have no interest in weapons platforms. But there's got to be some reason Fowler gave this to me. He's not one to just blow smoke."

Dr. Director smiled at me. "You had Wade do some digging, didn't you?"

I returned her smile. "He may not run my website anymore, but that doesn't mean we're not still friends. William Fowler was an Army Ranger and a combat pilot during the first Gulf War. He's highly decorated and received an honorable discharge. Then he joined Unit E, and was placed in charge of an operation so top secret even Wade couldn't hack his way in." Dr. Director's eye went wide. "Yeah." I looked at the file. I was curious about what was in it.

* * *

That curiosity was satisfied ninety minutes later, and was replaced by a need to break something. A lot of somethings. Project Damocles was an offshoot of the old Strategic Defense Initiative from the 80's, only this was a satellite that was designed to target and destroy enemy installations. Instead of a laser it used a cutting edge directed energy weapon, and It was only used once. On Bueno Nacho Headquarters. This is what killed Ron! And the guy behind it, a guy named Leland Bishop, was former Special Tactics and was missing. Needless to say, he was wanted by a lot of parties for what he did. I sat back in my chair and looked at the pictures on the desk in my cubicle. One of them was of Ron and me our junior year, just a few months before he was killed. For the first time in six years I had a name and a face for who killed him. And I was giving Agent Fowler's offer some serious thought.

After Ron died, I vowed to find out what caused his death, and to bring in whoever might have been involved. My mom said revenge wasn't going to bring Ron back, and that the explosions might have been an accident, caused by an overload, or something. And I knew she was right. But it might help me make up for my part in his death. Ron went in alone to stop the Diablos, and he was blown up along with those things. I finally had a clue; an energy blast that came out of nowhere. And I knew who built it. I didn't realize that I had grabbed my desk phone until I started dialing the number Fowler gave me. After he answered, I said two words. "I'm in."

* * *

The next day I met Fowler at the airfield outside of Middelton. He'd decided to stay an extra day after I said yes to his offer to give me time to get my affairs in order. Spike and that sports car of his were long since gone, and Agent Fowler was going to be taking me to Unit E's base in Jasper, Nevada. Yeah, I was going to the middle of nowhere. He was standing in front of a VTOL plane. It had fan blades in its wings, and was black and red. I had never seen seen any bird like this before. The Tweebs would've loved to get their hands on this. Again, Fowler was wearing the same clothes as before.

"Do you have a closet full of that exact same suit?" I asked.

"Yes, actually," he replied. I was so not surprised. "You can stow your gear in the cockpit. It's roomier than most fighter jets."

He started up the ladder to the cockpit when something occurred to me. "Don't we need G-suits?" I'd flown in enough fighter planes to know what G-forces could do to you. I never blacked out, but I came close. I hurled more than once, although I won't admit that to Will.

"We won't be going supersonic on this flight, Possible," he said. "Besides, this plane's special. Her cabin pressure regulator makes flight suits unnecessary."

When I got up the ladder, I saw the name "Windblade" on the side of the canopy. I so couldn't see Fowler using that as a call sign. I made a note to ask him about it later. And he was right about the roomy cockpit. There was more than enough room for my duffle. Besides, I packed light; one of the advantages to wearing mostly uniforms.

* * *

The trip was made in silence. Fowler had given me a lot of info to read over about Mech, even though most of it didn't tell me anything new. There was nothing about Unit E, though, or about Sideways and the others he worked with. I guessed I would be getting that debriefing once we got to base. Only, we never did go to base. Fowler flew us past the Unit E airfield, to a mesa that housed an abandoned nuclear missile silo thirty miles outside of Jasper.

Jasper was a town that made Middleton look like New York or Los Angeles. It had one high school for the whole county, one library, and never had a Bueno Nacho. Ron would have taken offense to that. Of course, he would so be tweaked that BN went out of business after Diablo Night. But despite all that, it seemed nice. Of course, the real test would be to see how the shopping was. If there was a Club Banana, then I'd know there was culture.

Fowler landed us on top of the mesa. The engines powered down, the canopy opened, and he jumped out. I grabbed my gear and followed suit. "Um, where are we?"

"Almost home. You'll want to back up a little." I gave him a funny look, but did what he said. "Okay, Windblade, you can show yourself now."

The plane made those same noises that Sideways' bike did, and it started to break apart. The wings extended out, the paneling on the back of the fuselage opened up, and the plane jumped up. The back plates moved and shifted, and the back half of the plane rotated a hundred and eighty degrees before turning into a pair of slender legs. Arms extended out of the body, and the nose cone folded onto the back. The plane stood up to full height, and a head rose out from the main body.

This robot looked female, and the headpiece almost looked the the hairstyle geishas wore. Her silver face had what looked like red kabuki makeup, and there was a symbol on her chest that looked like some kind of a red face. She got down on on knee and held her hand out. "It is such an honor to meet you, Kim," she said. Her voice was clear and smooth, not like Sideways' growling. Well, that explained why the canopy said Windblade. That was her name and not Fowler's call sign.

"Um, yeah. Hi." I so wanted to ask if she had the whole head thing like Sideways did, but wasn't sure if I should bring it up.

"Come on, Possible," Fowler said. "Let's go meet the rest of the team." He led me over to a large elevator platform. As soon as all three of us were on it, it started to descend through the mountain. We went all the way through the mesa to a huge underground chamber. It was there that I saw something that took my breath away; an enormous golden yellow spaceship. I real honest to God spaceship! My Dad would squeal like a fanboy if he could see this! Then I thought about how Ron would pull the whole "I told you there were aliens" thing. I did my best to banish that thought. I was here for Ron; to bring his murderers to justice. I had to remember that.

The elevator came to a stop at what looked like some kind of airlock, assuming robots needed air. The door was open, so we walked in. The place was built for titans! Windblade was tall; taller than a house, and some of the workstations on this ship were for robots even bigger than that! I was afraid of getting stepped on. We kept going until we came to a large door with that same face on it. It opened, revealing what had to be the bridge. There were computer terminals, viewscreens and monitors. And there were robots. Huge, freaking robots. I saw Sideways there who, if I didn't know better, did a double take. He was in his head mode and attached to the repaired motorcycle.

One robot, a big red and blue one, came up to me. His face was silver, had no nose, and was covered by some kind of faceplate from where his nose would have been to his chin; like a ninja mask almost. On his head was a blue helmet with long spikes on the sides. His chest was made of what looked like the windshield of a semi truck, and the grille was his abdomen. That face symbol was on his left shoulder. "Welcome aboard the _Ark,_ Agent Possible," he said in a deep, rumbling voice. "I am Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots. We have much to discuss."

* * *

 _ **Author's note.**_

 _ **I'm back. For a while, anyway. I had some time to sit down and write, and had this idea brewing in my head for months. It was finally able to worm its way out.**_

 _ **As I stated at the beginning of this story, this is going to be different from my usual. Kim's riding solo and is wracked with guilt over her best friend's death. I know I'm not the first one to do one of these "What if StD went differently" tales, but it just felt right to do my Transformers/KP story this way instead of shoehorning it into existing continuity.**_

 _ **Hopefully you all enjoy it! So far I've enjoyed writing it.**_

 _ **Next Time: Kim gets to now the Autobots, and faces off against the Decepticons for the first time.**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Kim Possible and all related characters are the property of Disney. Transformers and all related characters are the property of Hasbro.**_

 _ **The Transformers used will be a mixture of Generation 1, Beast Wars, the IDW Comics series (which is fantastic, by the way), the Aligned Continuity (The**_ **Prime** _ **and**_ **Robots in Disguise 2015** _ **TV series and the Fall of Cybertron and War for Cybertron video games), and a smattering of**_ **The Unicron Trilogy (Armada, Energon,** _ **and**_ **Cybertron)** _ **and**_ **Animated** _ **.**_

* * *

I looked at the metal giant, not really sure if I believed what I was seeing. I mean, yeah, I had seen some weird things over the years; blue scientists, color coded superheroes with various kinds of abilities, Mystical Monkey Power and an English lord with monkey hands and feet. But then, two days ago, I met a human shaped robot that could turn into a head and connect to the larger headless robot that his motorcycle transformed into. Then I went for a ride in another robot who transformed into a jet!

My name is Kim Possible. I'm an agent with Global Justice, currently on detached assignment to Unit E, and I am so out of my element here. Fortunately for me, my host, a colossal robot named Optimus Prime, was very patient with me. He was giving me a crash course on what he and his people were, and why they were here. It spanned millions of years, so I was getting the Cliff's Notes version.

We sat in a large room off of the main bridge. I think this was his office, or the ready room like the captain in _Space Passage: The New Voyages_ had. There weren't any chairs small enough for me to sit in, so he lifted me up and set me down on what was either a shelf or some kind of terminal. It didn't matter. It was hard; not something I wanted to be sitting on for too long. My host remained standing. He had walked over to the far side of the room and looked out the window. All I could see was the cavern hat the _Ark_ was docked in. Out in space, it had to be an impressive view.

"We are autonomous robotic organisms from the planet Cybertron," he explained. "Autobots for short. We were forced to leave our world millions of your years ago following a devastating civil war. Everyone lost." I could hear the pain and the sadness coming through that deep voice of his, even though I could tell he was trying to hide it. There was a vulnerable strength to Optimus, if that makes any sense, as well as a kindness. I'd only known him for a half hour, but I already trusted him. "Now our world is incapable of supporting life. The core of Cybertron was infected with a deadly poison, and it shut down to keep the infection from spreading to the entire planet. That meant, however, that the core would no longer produce energon, the fuel all Cybertronians rely on to live."

"What started the war?" I asked.

Prime looked over his shoulder at me. "That is a long story. Suffice it to say, our society was far from perfect. We lived in a very rigid cast system, and there were those who wished to throw off the yoke of that oppression. But in order to do that, they relied on subterfuge and deception, and then all out rebellion. They took the name Decepticon to celebrate that." Optimus went over to the terminal across the room and touched a few icons on the panel. A holographic image of the scariest robot I'd ever seen shimmered into view. It was big, had clawed hands, a mouth full of razor sharp teeth (although why robots need teeth, I don't know), jagged silver armor plates, a huge angular helmet, and the mother of all cannons on his right forearm. In the middle of his chest was a symbol that looked like an angular purple face. It was a mean looking face, not the warm face the Autobots used at their symbol. It gave me a good idea of what kinds of beings these Decepticons were. Not to mention a serious chill down my spine.

"This is Megatron, the leader of the Decepticons, and the one who poisoned Cybertron's core. He and his Decepticon forces are here on Earth somewhere. Four nights ago, they attacked the Cheyenne Mountain NORAD facility."

My eyes narrowed. The three unmanned F-22's Dr. Director told me about. More like three robots in disguise. "What did they want?"

"We don't know, and that's what worries me," Optimus said. "Megatron does subscribe to the doctrine of overwhelming force, but only when he knows what he's up against. And he doesn't tip his hand just to see what cards the other players are holding."

I smirked at Optimus. "You have poker on Cybertron?"

I swear he smiled under that faceplate of his. I could hear it in his voice. "No, it's an expression I picked up from Sideways. He's fond of watching those poker tournaments on your late night television. We don't know why Megatron sent his Seekers against this facility, or if it was even one of his plans. This seems more like something his first lieutenant Starscream would come up with. Regardless of who planned the attack, it still happened."

"And a lot of people got hurt. But I don't think this is why I'm here. I so don't have experience with giant robots." I could have, if I hadn't decided my perfect prom date was more important than Ron's warning about the Diablos being evil.

"That's correct. Agent Fowler and Spike tell me that you have experience fighting enemies who utilize high tech and exotic weapons. We have such a foe. Mech." He held his hand out to me. "Come on, Agent Possible, let's take a tour the ship while I tell you what we've learned about Mech."

During the tour, which was really long considering how big the _Ark_ was Prime told me that Mech were a band of domestic techno-terrorists, armed with the kind of technology and weapons that Drakken and Dementor would put on their wish lists. They were led by a guy called Silas, but no one knew who he was, what his real name was, or what he even looked like. These guys were about as secretive as they come. I was so going to need some help with this. I knew it would be tough to sell Fowler on bringing in a civilian, but if I was going to crack this, I was going to need the best information guy in the world, and that guy was Wade Load.

I figured it would be a good idea to have some help on my side when I brought it up to Fowler, so I decided to see if I could get the Autobots on my side. The first one I saw after Optimus, who was totally on board with the idea, was Windblade. Actually, it looked like she was waiting for me to come out of Prime's office. She was downright giddy! "Come on, Kim! The others are all here! Well, everyone who's not on the Farm, that is."

I quirked an eyebrow at Windblade. "The Farm?"

"It's a solar energy collection site about twenty miles away from here," Optimus explained. "Since energon is in such short supply, we're using solar energy to power the _Ark's_ secondary systems. Anything that doesn't require energon to function is powered by what we collect at the Farm. And our scientists there are working to find a substitute for energon. Unfortunately, that's proving to be next to impossible."

Windblade was looking almost like a little kid who desperately wanted to show off. Her face, and the faces of all the Autobots, had to be some kind of flexible metal or something. It bent and flowed like skin, but it still had the same texture of any metal I'd ever seen. But then again, they were aliens from another planet, and it sounded like they were naturally occurring machines and weren't built by anyone. Ron would have had a field day with this. I looked over at Optimus, and I swear he was smiling again. Did he even have a mouth under that thing? It didn't seem the kind of thing to ask someone. "Windblade, why don't you handle the introductions?" Windblade didn't need to be told twice. If I'd been bigger, I'll bet that she would have grabbed my hand and dragged me out to the bridge.

"Autobots," Windblade proudly said, "this is Agent Kim Possible! She's gonna be helping us with our Mech problem. Kim," Windblade gestured to the assembled bots, "meet the Autobots!" Sideways let out a grunt and walked off to a corner to brood. "You already know Mr. Personality over there." Windblade looked over at a blue female bodied Autobot who was about the same size as Sideways, but a lot sleeker. She had some pink accents on her head crest and around her wrists. "This is Arcee, and he big green guy behind her is our demolitions expert Bulkhead." Big was an understatement. He was built like a barrel and had arms like tree trunks. His head was kind of disproportionately small, and his jaw was freaking huge.

"Hi," Bulkhead said in a deep but friendly voice. I smiled and nodded.

"Ratchet is our resident doctor." A red and white bot, who was fiddling with some equipment in the corner, looked up. He looked me over, let out a "humph" sound, and went back to work. It looked like Sideways wasn't the only one with rudeness issues. "And the guy with the guns is Ironhide." A red bot, similar in body type to Ratchet looked up. He had a crest on his head that made it look like he had a Mohawk instead of the the twin prongs on the front of Ratchet's forehead, and his chest was made up of what looked like a pickup truck's front end that had been split in half. He had giant cannons on his forearms. It was a ferociously good thing he was on our side with guns like that.

"Nice t'meetcha, little lady," he said in a voice that kind of reminded me of John Wayne. Next to him was a teal blue, kind of crotchety looking guy who looked like he turned into an old model pickup truck. His name was Kup, and he was their resident veteran. I was warned not to get him started talking, or he would launch into a longwinded war story that would take days to tell.

Spike walked in with a yellow bot with black stripes, just like the muscle car Spike had been driving. His chest was made up of the headlights and grille of his vehicle mode, as well as the hood. The car doors were jutting out of his back like a pair of wings, and he had round, inquisitive eyes that glowed a soft blue. There was a genuine kindness in that face, even though like Optimus, his mouth, was hidden If he even had one that is. "And that's our scout, Bumblebee." Bumblebee let out a series of beeps and chirps, kind of like R2-D2. I'd later find out that Megetron ripped poor Bumblebee's voice box out of his throat back on Cybertron. "You already know Spike."

I walked up and shook Spike's hand. "I already know Bumblebee, too. Unless you drove a car identical to him when you were in Middleton."

"No, that was 'Bee," Spike said with a smile. "He and I are partners. So, are you getting situated?"

"For the most part," I said. "Optimus has given me the grand tour, and Windblade here's been making the introductions. I just need to get back to base so I can find a bunk at the barracks."

Spike shook his head. "They're making you stay on base?"

"My choice. I tend to live out of suitcases, anyway, considering that I get called out on missions at the drop of a hat. It's easier to live on base than it is to have an apartment that I'd never see." That was one of the reasons that Rufus rotated between staying with me, my fam and Ron's fam. I didn't want to leave the little guy by himself. Besides, he saw all of us as his family, and it wouldn't be fair to him to keep him to myself and then neglect him. Actually, he was with back in Middleton with the Stoppables.

"I don't think so." Spike pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. "I'll be right back." He walked off as he made his call. He was up to something.

Bumblebee, meanwhile, was giving me the once over. He finally let out a long series of beeps and bleeps. Arcee stepped up to translate. "He asked if you were the same Kim Possible who did the whole save the world thing back when she was in high school."

"That's me," I said. Bumblebee followed up with another few chirps. "Let me guess, he asked why I stopped?" Arcee nodded. "I got my best friend killed because I was a selfish little brat," I said. I didn't hide any of the anger or shame when I said it. "I got pulled back into it my senior year, and I joined up with Global Justice while I was in college. And now I'm here."

"I love you, too," I heard Spike say. "I'll see you soon." He put the phone away and had a devious grin on his face. "You're coming home with me," he announced. "We have an extra room, and my wife is a big fan of yours. You saved her dad's life when you were in high school. You might remember him. Dr. Elias Spencer. Giving you a place to stay is her way of thanking you. Besides, my son would love to hear some of your stories."

"He doesn't sit still long enough for my stories," Kup complained in a gruff voice.

"That's because your stories take more than a decacycle to tell, old timer," Ironhide said. He saw my confusion and added, "A decacycle is about three of your weeks. Ol' Kup here can just keep jawin.' Give him an inch and he'll take a parsec."

I could tell by the look on Spike's face that I wasn't gonna win this. I walked over to the door I originally walked through and picked up my duffle bag. "You win," I said. "And on the way over, you and I can discuss something. I'm gonna need your help convincing Agent Fowler that we'll need some outside help gathering intel." I so wasn't going to have a repeat of the sitch that got me into this.

Before we could get going, an alarm klaxon went off. The Autobots were calm, though, so I didn't freak too much. Kup went over to what I guessed was the communications console, a large golden shelf gently jutting out from the far side of the bridge. He ran his fingers over a touch screen, activating a hologram of Agent Fowler in the middle of the room. I was touring the ship for a while, so he had plenty of time to get back to base.

"Prime!" he said on a grumpy tone of voice. "The flyboys are at it again. We've got a trio of F-22's buzzing around at Area 51! General Simms is threatening to break out some of the alien weaponry he has out there. Hell, he's threatening to start mutating some animals into giants to swat the planes down! It didn't work too well for King Kong, but he thinks he might be able to pull it off!"

Optimus went into mission mode. "Thank you, Agent Fowler. We're on our way." The hologram faded away, and Optimus looked over at his troops. "Spike, what do you know about Area 51?"

I spoke up before Spike could answer. "It's a warehouse for recovered alien tech," I said. "Ron and I had a mission there once, and we had to fight against a giant poodle." I saw the look on Spike's face. "Long story. Look, General Simms will do what he has to in order to protect the base! I'm just afraid he'll try to fire a gun that'll wind up hurting someone other than the bad guys!" I narrowed my eyes. "I'm going on this mission."

"What?!" Sideways almost shrieked. Well, he would have if he didn't sound like he had a whole pond full of frogs in his throat. "Oprimus, she'll get in the way! She doesn't know scrap about the 'Cons! Besides, that's not what she's here for!"

"Look here, head case!" I snapped. "I've been to Area 51 before. Have you?" I looked over at Optimus. "I'm here to help you guys out with Mech, but I get the feeling the Decepticons aren't going to wait on the sidelines while we're dealing with them. I'm gonna need to face off with them sooner or later. I vote sooner!"

Prime nodded. "Very well. This will be a two pronged mission. Arcee, Sideways, you're our stealth team. Arcee, you'll be paired with Agent Possible." Sideways grunted, disengaged from his body, and transformed into his, I guess you'd call it his humanoid form, while his body went to motorcycle mode.

Prime then looked over at the others. "Bulkhead, Ironhide, you're with me. Bumblebee, Windblade and Kup are our backup. Ratchet, prepare the ground bridge."

"Shouldn't Windblade go in first?" I asked. "We'll need air support against these planes, won't we?"

"That works in theory," Bulkhead said. He lumbered up to Windblade, who was taller but much more slender than he was, and put his hand on her back. "She's a Camien! Not good in a fire fight, but she has more than a few surprises up her sleeve. Isn't that right, Windy?"

Windblade smirked and pulled something from her headpiece that looked like the fans geishas wore in their hair. The light glinted off the curved blade. "You know it, Bulk," she happily agreed. "I'm the secret weapon in a fight that the 'Cons never expect."

"'Blade," Sideways said in a soft voice; a voice full of concern. "Don't get too big headed now. I don't think Skywarp's gonna fall for the throwing blade trick twice."

"Yeah, 'Ways," she said in a slightly annoyed voice. "I know."

Bulkhead glared down at Sideways. "Don't let the Headmaster wannabe get under your plates, Windy" he said.

"That's enough!" Optimus barked. I could tell that he wasn't happy with the hostility between those two. I got the feeling that Sideways didn't get along too well with Bulkhead. Actually, it looked like Sideways didn't get along with anybody except the fem bot. I made a mental note to find out why. The last thing I wanted to do was work with a unit with no cohesion. I mean, I may not like Will Du very much, and he does go out of his way to tick me off, but I trust him to have my back in the field. "Everyone to the ground bridge. NOW!"

Everyone started scattering, getting ready, so I opened my duffle bag and pulled out my battlesuit. "Anywhere for me to change?"

Less than five minutes later we were all out in the cavern. In front of us was a ring like structure connected to a bunch of machines that I couldn't even begin to understand. I was in my battlesuit, holding a special motorcycle helmet Spike found for me that would protect my head and link me into the Autobot communications frequency. Sideways was astride his bike, and the others were standing at attention.

"We're going to a secure military location, so we won't have to worry about being seen by human civilians. That having been said, do try to keep exposure to the on base personnel to a minimum. You know how Agent Fowler gets when he has to debrief someone with a lower security rating than he's comfortable with." Everyone nodded. "Ratchet, open the ground bridge.

Ratchet pulled a lever, and the ring sprung to life. A swirling green vortex appeared in the metal hoop. "Autobots, transform and roll out!"

* * *

Going through the ground bridge was intense. Imagine being on a fast rollercoaster. Like crazy fast! You're going straight down at close to a hundred miles an hour, and you just keep going. That's kind of how the ground bridge felt. Freefall was no longer the biggest rush I'd ever felt. Now I knew how people who did HALO jumps felt. We crossed hundreds of miles in just seconds.

Arcee was in her motorcycle mode, and she was providing me with transportation. She told me to hold onto my head after giving me a special helmet that linked me into their communications network, but she should've told me to keep a grip on my stomach! When we exited the portal and were at Area 51, I was pumped! I was ready to take on the Decepticons myself. What can I say? I'm an adrenaline junkie, and that got the adrenaline flowing.

I hopped off of Arcee, and she quickly transformed. Sideways stayed in his human sized form. He got off the bike, though, and I could see that his claw hands plugged into the handlebars. That was how he could ride that thing so well. Even when he wasn't its head, he could control it like it was a part of himself. It didn't give me any ideas for why Bulkhead was harshing on him so much. Or why he said Windblade was no good in a fire fight. What did "Camien" mean anyway? I pushed that thought out of my brain. _Head in the game, Possible,_ I reminded myself. I looked over at Sideways. "So what's the sitch?"

His visor turned yellow and glowed as he looked down at the base from the hilltop we had emerged on. "Three 'Cons," he said. "All three Seekers, just like last time." I assumed these Seekers were the jets attacking the base.

"Starscream, Skywarp and Thundercracker," Arcee said. I recognized the name Starscream. Optimus mentioned him. The other two I didn't know. "We need to take a closer look." She was about to transform when Sideways stopped her.

"We don't know if they're alone," he pointed out. "We need to be sneaky. I can get in without being seen."

"That bike of yours is about as subtle as drag race," I said. I really looked at his body. Silver torso, huge arms and legs, but no Autobot symbol like the rest of them had. Come to think of it, I didn't see one on the motorcycle either. "And you stand out like a sore thumb. I'll go."

Sideways moved faster than I thought he could and blocked me. "No way."

I scowled at him. I so don't like being second guessed. "Who are you, my father?"

"I doubt Dr. Possible would want to find out that his only daughter got slagged by enemy fire."

I got face to faceplate to him, or as close as I could considering how much taller he was than me. "Look here, Captain Cranium, I can do this. I've been infiltrating enemy lairs for years! And like I said back at base, I've already been here. Besides, my suit has a few tricks up its sleeves." The trim started glowing blue as I powered it up. "I can handle myself."

"She's right," Arcee said. "The 'Cons would pick up our energy signatures the nanoklik we were in range. She can get in under their olfactory sensors."

Sideways folded those gargantuan arms of his in front of his chest. "Just watch yourself out there. Starscream is no pushover."

I ignored him and ran down the hill. That guy was really bugging me. First he didn't want me here, then he insults me, and then he brings my dad into it. What was his damage? I mean, it was obvious they'd heard of me since Bumblebee was wanting to get my back story. But what was the deal with Sideways? Maybe he was so sick of being constantly harshed on by Bulkhead that he was taking it out on me. For alien robots, these guys acted way too human.

I kept low and ducked behind whatever obstructions I could. My black battlesuit was good protection, but it so stood out against the white desert sand. I reminded myself to talk to Wade about giving it chameleon like camouflage so it could blend in with my surroundings. I made to within twenty or so yards of the main hangar when the air was filled by that metallic grinding sound that came with transformation.

I looked up and saw one of the jets, the red one, land on a pair of legs that formed out of its rear section and engines. The cockpit flipped down onto what became the chest, the wings folded onto its back, and it had arms with long, wicked looking guns mounted on them. The robot's head was grey with a black helmet, and what looked like intake vents on either side of it. His eyes glowed a violent red.

"Skywarp!" His voice hurt. It was shrill, like nails down a chalkboard. With a voice like that, this had to be Starscream. "Report!"

The black and purple jet transformed and landed. He was taller than Starscream, and his head was a slightly different shape, but otherwise they were identical. "Human forces are keeping us at bay, Air Commander Starscream." This one had a gruff voice, but one that wouldn't make your ears bleed. "They have weapons we've never seen before. We can't get passed them."

Starscream hauled off and smacked Skywarp upside the head. "Idiot! Scrap for brains! You can warp jump, so warp jump _INTO THE STRONGHOLD!_ I'm not going to be the one who tells Lord Megatron that we didn't secure the package! _"_

"I need to know where I'm going!" Skywarp protested.

At that moment, the blue plane also transformed and landed. He looked like the others, except that he was bulkier. "We're pinned down," he reported. "We need backup!"

"Fools!" Starscream bellowed. "I'm surrounded by fools! You are elite Seekers! You should be able to fight off primitive fleshlings!"

Okay, that was insulting. I clenched my fists and went for my shock watch. The shock watch I wasn't wearing. The shock watch I had to turn in when I went on detached assignment with Unit E. The shock watch Will Du gleefully took form me. Okay, I was gonna have to come up with a plan B. I tapped a panel on the side of my helmet, opening the channel with the Autobots. "They're talking about bringing in backup," I said.

"Then so are we," Optimus' voice replied. "Ratchet, now!"

In less than a second, the ground bridge opened up behind the Seekers. "Autobots!" Starscream shrieked. He was a real master of the obvious. "Skywarp, Thundercracker, attack!"

The three Decepticons leaped into the sky and transformed. At the same time a red snub nosed semi came roaring out of the portal. Optimus Prime told me he once had a trailer that housed a mobile combat and repair platform, but he stopped using it because the subspace shunt he used to get it out of the way when he didn't need it in the field used up way too much energon. Behind him were a big green SUV and a red full ton pickup truck. All of them transformed almost at the same time.

The plating on Prime's forearms opened and shifted, letting his hands retract and long barreled cannons deploy. Ironhinde already had bug guns on his arms, so he just opened fire. Bulkhead's hands retracted, and were replaced by a pair of wrecking balls. He let out a war cry and ran headlong at a diving Thundercracker. Bulkhead swung at the blue jet's nose cone, making contact with a loud clang and a shower of sparks.

I looked up when I heard the telltale rumble of Sideways' bike. He and Arcee were inbound. At the same time, I saw another green portal open up in the sky. I thought for a minute that it was Windblade, but I was wrong. Out of it came a tan colored fighter jet, and a silver craft that looked like it came out of a rerun of _Captain Constellation._ It had what looked like large pincer claws in the front, wings with tips that swept forward, and a large cannon on the back. I recognized the cannon, and the silver plating. We were in deep trouble. This was Megatron.

The craft did a barrel roll and transformed, landing on bent legs. When he stood up, his armor was still shifting into its new configuration. "Optimus Prime," he said in a gravelly voice that made my blood run cold. "How nice to see you again."

Arcee and Sideways pulled up beside me, transforming as they went. Up till now I'd been off the Decepticons' radar. Now they would see me. Megatron bared those shark teeth of his. "And it looks like you have a new fleshy friend to get underfoot. Did Agent Witwicky get tired of us, or did that blundering oaf Bulkhead accidentally sit on him?"

Bulkhead made a move towards Megatron, but Ironhide stopped him. Arcee's right arm popped open, and a curved blade slid out. Sideways pointed his exhaust pipe blasters at Megatron. "Ah," Megatron almost chuckled. "And the counterfeit Headmaster as well. It would seem that we almost have the full set here." He looked up at the tan jet. "Blitzwing! Seekers! To me!"

The jets transformed and landed. The one that came with Megatron changed into tan and purple robot with a blue face and a large cannon on his back. He looked at me with an icy gaze. "I don't recognize it, Lord Megatron." His voice was just as cold as his stare. "Not that it matters. They all pop just the same." Then the freak went off the chain. A higher pitched grinding sound filled the air as the robot's face started to change. It went from blue to purple, its red eyes changed to a red visor, and its chin widened. "Let me crush it like an Insecticon!" he bellowed. His voice was deeper and more menacing.

Optimus stepped up before anyone else could move. "Leave here, Megatron! I won't let you endanger innocent human lives!"

"Who's endangering them, Optimus?" Megatron sneered. "You're the one who brings his pets with him onto the battlefield." This Megatron guy was seriously starting to get me tweaked. I didn't realize that I was stepping forward until I felt a large hand hold me back. It was Sideways. He just shook his head at me.

What was up with this guy? First he harshes on me, now he tries to help me? This guy was having some serious mood swings! The sounds of Prime's weapons retracting into his arms snapped me out of it.

"What do you want here, Megatron?" Optimus demanded.

Megatron deployed a long sword from under his cannon. "Maybe I just wanted to see your smiling faceplate again."

Optimus brought his arms up. They opened again, but this time blades sprung out when his hands retracted. "You'll forgive me if I don't believe you. You don't have a sentimental circuit in your body." Prime glanced behind Megatron at the Area 51 base. It was in flames, and the personnel were all maintaining their distance, but with their weapons drawn. "You want something stored here. That much is obvious. Just like you wanted something at NORAD. And if you want it, then I can't let you have it."

With that, Optimus flew at Megatron. Their blades slammed together, sending sparks flying. That opened the floodgates. It was all out mayhem as giant robots fought it out, and I was caught in the middle. Maybe Sideways was right abut me getting in the way.

* * *

 ** _Next Chapter: Kim vs Blitzwing_**


	3. Chapter 3

_**Kim Possible and all related characters are the property of Disney. Transformers and all related characters are the property of Hasbro.**_

 _ **The Transformers used will be a mixture of Generation 1, Beast Wars, the IDW Comics series (which is fantastic, by the way), the Aligned Continuity (The**_ **Prime** _ **and**_ **Robots in DIsguise** _ **TV series and the Fall of Cybertron and War for Cybertron video games), and a smattering of**_ **The Unicron Trilogy (Armada, Energon,** _ **and**_ **Cybertron)** _ **and**_ **Animated** _ **.**_

* * *

All hell had broken loose. That was the only way I could describe it. I used to watch giant robot anime with Ron on _TV Trash Heap,_ but this was so different from anything like that. Those battles were all in space, and this one was right in front of me. My name is Kim Possible, and I'm a special agent with Global Justice on detached assignment with a US government outfit called Unit E, and I was so out of my depth! Giant robots with giant guns and giant blades going at it, and me without a personal forcefield. I so missed that function of my old suit. So I did the smart thing. I got the heck out of there!

Just a few short hours ago I found out that humanity wasn't alone in the universe, and that a race of sentient alien robots were living under an abandoned missile silo in Nevada. These Autobots were my new teammates, for lack of a better word. I'd been brought in to help find a group of high tech terrorists called Mech. And in classic Possible form, I decided to come along when the Decepticons, another bunch of transforming robots, and the ones the Autobots had been in a civil war with for millions of years, decided to attack Area 51. Not one of my best ideas.

I dived off to the side and ran as hard as I could away from the robot on robot carnage! I couldn't fight, but there was something I could do. I could find out what brought the Decepticons here. I found a relatively quiet corner away from the fighting and activated my battlesuit's sensor array. A screen formed on the back of my hand, and it was lit up like my 'rents house on Christmas Eve. There was some seriously intense energy readings coming from behind me, but its signature was something my suit had never encountered before. That was the bad news. The good news was that I could track it!

I steeled myself and got ready to dash back out into the war zone. If I could figure out why the Decepticons were here, maybe I could tell the Autobots or Unit E and find a safe place to hide it, or use it for as bait for a trap. If the Decepticons wanted it so badly, it so couldn't be good. I was about to come out of my hiding place when there was a huge explosion behind me. I looked up and I saw the purple and tan Decepticon. The one called Blitzwing. The one whose face and personality seemed to change at really random times. He was bent at the waste and that big gun on his back was smoking.

"Well hello, there," he said in the icy calm voice. "I was afraid you'd get trampled before I could see how you fleshlings hold up in a fight." I scowled at him. I so didn't like how the Decepticons kept calling humans "fleshlings." It was way insulting. Then Blitzwing's face started to change again. It went from blue to black, and all detail was washed out. His already red eyes started to glow even brighter. His mouth became wider, and sharp teeth (seriously, why would robots need teeth?) grew out of his mouth. He looked like a deranged jack o lantern.

"So let's see if I can squeeze you till you pop!" His voice had changed along with his face. It was distorted and high pitched, and he was laughing like a lunatic. And I knew he had me dead to rights. Okay, I _REALLY_ missed my old forcefield. And I really missed going up against foes that couldn't step on me.

"Back off, you psycho!" a gravelly voice declared. Sideways, the Autobot with the detachable head, was coming for me with guns blazing.

"Oh look. It's the science project." Blitzwing's voice was icy calm again, and his face was back to its blue color.

Sideways took another couple of shots at the crazy robot trying to kill me. "Look who's talking," Sideways said in a voice dripping with sarcasm. "What did that nut job Shockwave have to yank out from under your hood to make room for that extra T-cog? It had to be your common sense!"

"Sideways," I said, "I don't think making him mad is such a good idea!"

Blitzwing let out a yell, and his face changed again; it was purple with a big chin. "Now it's time to see how fast you are!" he declared in that deep, menacing voice of his. I glared up at Sideways when Blitzwing started to shift and change. The cannon on his back extended and tank treads unfolded around his legs. In seconds Blitzwing had become a desert camouflage tank. What the heck? He turned into a jet a little while ago! I was broken out of my musings when he started blasting indiscriminately.

Sideways' head popped off and transformed into an armored form with huge arms and legs; his body became a motorcycle that he landed on. Sideways pulled up beside me and helped me get on the bike. "Let's move!"

"What is his damage?" I shouted. I didn't need to yell though, the helmet I was wearing linked me into the Autobot comm signal.

"He's nuts!"

"I kind of figured that one out on my own!"

"It has to do with the fact that he's a triplechanger," Sideways said. "Ask Ratchet! He has a few ideas. Now hang on tight! When ol' Blitzy decides to go all hotheaded on us, he doesn't stop until he's blown a lot of stuff up!"

I looked over my shoulder and saw that the tank was coming after us. "That's not our only problem!" I shouted. "I think I figured out what these guys are after! I picked up an exotic energy signature coming from the base. I'll bet my Club Banana rewards card that's what the 'Cons are after!"

Sideways looked over his shoulder at me. "What kind of energy signature?"

"I don't know!" I showed him the readouts on my hand. "Whatever it is, it's not in my suit's database. If Wade doesn't know what it is, then that's a bad thing!"

"I don't know what it is either." He flipped a switch on his handlebars. "Can I download this into my transector's on board computer?"

"Your what?"

"My transector! The motorcycle! If I download it I can scan for it myself. And I can send it back to base to see if anyone back there knows what it is."

I nodded. That was a good idea. I hated to say it, but Sideways knew what he was doing. He was just so damned irritating! We continued riding and dodging Blitzwing's blasts. When his face changed, so did his personality, and right now his personality was that of a bully who didn't know when to stop. "I really hate this guy," I grumbled.

"You and me both!" Sideways brought one of his clawed fingers to the side of his head. "Sideways to base! I think we could use a little air support here!"

"This is Windblade," a voice replied. "Ratchet's opening the bridge now! I'll be there in a few nanokliks!"

"Make it faster, 'Blade! I've got Blitzwing on my skid plate, and his aim's getting better!"

I tapped the side of my helmet. "And we think we've figured out what Megatron wants! We're sending in an energy signature that we need you to look at!"

As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I saw the ground bridge open and Windblade come running out. Instead of deploying blasters from her arms, she pulled a long sword with a curved blade that was glowing purple. The sword had what looked like a small fan blade in its hilt, similar to the ones that were in Windblade's wings. "Hey, blitz brain! Leave my friends alone!"

Blitzwing came to a skidding halt, then swung an enormous U-turn. "You think you can stop me, little girl?" he demanded in that bully voice of his.

Windblade got into some kind of fighting stance. "As my new friend Kim would say, bring it!"

"Dammit, 'Blade," Sideways muttered. "She's gonna get herself scrapped!" He made a wide turn and raced us back to where Windblade was playing matador with the crazy 'Con.

"Why doesn't she just shoot at him?" I asked.

"She's from Caminus!"

I had no idea what that meant. "So what? And I thought you all were from Cybertron!"

"She's not, and neither are the bots at the Farm," Sideways replied. "Windblade is from a colony world called Caminus, and they've got scarcer resources than Cybertron! None of them use energy or projectile weapons. Just swords, spears and the like! She's gonna get scrapped!"

Sideways opened up the throttle, trying to beat Blitzwing to where Windblade was standing. When the tank was about fifteen feet from her, Windblade sheathed her sword, jumped into the air, transformed and took flight. I was so starting to like her! She had some tricks up that steel sleeve of hers. The smile left my lips when I saw the tank transform into a plane and jet off after her. I forgot he could do that. So not good.

Sideways came to a stop, letting me off before he and the bike transformed, combining. He tapped the side of his head. "He's hot on your jets, 'Blade!"

"Ya think?!" came the terse response.

The exhaust pipes on his arms split open and out popped blasters. He took aim at the Decepticon jet and opened fire. He was such the bad shot, though. Not one of his blasts hit the target. He was pretty good in the last fight I saw him in, but the targets were closer. Maybe he needed glasses or something.

"What, did you take the Stormtrooper Sharpshooter Course?" I asked in an annoyed voice.

"Very funny, Possible," he grumbled. Sideways frantically looked around until he saw a partially collapsed bunker. "I've got an idea, 'Blade! Bring him back here and I'll use my secret weapon on him!"

I looked up at Sideways. "I'm afraid to ask what your secret weapon is."

"My ability to annoy the scrap out of anyone!" He detached and transformed. He got back on his bike and aimed himself at the bunker. Then it dawned on me what he was doing.

"Please tell me you're not thinking of using that as a ramp."

He revved the engine. "No can do, Possible, because that's _EXACTLY_ what I'm thinking."

I looked up when I heard the two planes coming for us. As soon as Windblade flew by, Sideways took off like a shot! He raced towards the bunker/ramp and took flight like a metal Evel Knievel! He jumped off the bike, and I saw a couple bursts of light come from his feet; the same bursts I had seen when he would jump up to connect with the motorcycle when it transformed. He must have had mini jump jets or something. Whatever he had, it gave him enough of a boost to grab onto Blitzwing when he flew by. The Decepticon started to flip and swerve, trying to shake his unwanted passenger.

I looked around and saw the battle raging around me. Bulkhead, Ironhide and Arcee were going toe to toe with the Seekers, while Optimus traded blasts and sword slashes with Megatron. The lead 'Con was a lot bigger than Optimus, and a lot more brutal, but Optimus was holding his own. I got the feeling that the two leaders had been doing this dance for a really long time. Now I knew why Sideways said I was out of my league here.

Sideways! He was still playing bucking bronco with Blitzwing. I looked up as Windblade transformed and landed beside me. "What the hell is he doing?" I asked.

"He's trying to tick Blitzwing off," Windblade said with a grin. "You noticed his mood swings? Well, two out of the three correspond with his alt modes. When he's all freaky he can be in any mode, but he can't do jet mode when he's angry. If he gets mad in jet mode..."

As soon as Windblade said it, we saw Blitzwing's jet engines cut out and the wings start to fold. He was transforming to tank mode! Sideways did it! The only problem was that now both of them were plummeting to the ground below. Sideways leaped away, but Blitzwing took a shot at him with that big cannon of his. The blast glanced Sideways and sent him flying.

"No! 'Ways!" Windblade shrieked. She grabbed me and transformed, somehow putting me in her cockpit as she went. "You idiot!" she said. "You stupid, stupid _IDIOT!"_ It was pretty clear that she and Sideways were close. They had that best friends plus maybe more vibe going. They kind of reminded me of how Ron and I were back in the early days. You know, before we started getting older and things got complicated. "If I've told him once I've told him a thousand times! Don't tick off the crazed flier uless you're connected to your transector. But does he listen to me? No!"

"Chill, Windblade," I said. "We don't know how hurt he is. Let's just get there! And keep an eye out for Blitzwing. I seriously doubt he's giving up this easily."

Windblade transformed as she was coming in for a landing, letting me hit the ground so much lighter than I should have. But then again, I had kind of come to expect that from her. That settled it. I definitely had a new friend. But that new friend was terrified for her old friend, and I could see why. There was an arm right in front of us with no body attached to it. A few feet away we saw the smoking heap that was Sideways. Windblade made a dash to him, and I was right behind her. "What the Pit is the matter with you?!" she shrieked.

When I got there, Sideways was flat on his stomach, trying to push himself up with one good arm. I also saw that his right leg was bent at an angle that would have meant major broken bones in a human, and the left leg was hanging by a cable. Glowing blue liquid was pooling from the wounds in his arm and leg. After Windblade helped him sit up, I saw cracks all over his torso, and that his visor was nearly shattered. More of that blue stuff was bleeding from all the cracks. This had to be energon. Sideways was hurt, and hurt bad. "Hey," he said in a weak voice. "It worked, didn't it?"

"It gave me a slagging spark attack is what it did!" Windblade looked up at me. "I need to get him back to base for repairs. Get his transector and I'll get his arm."

A few short minutes later and we had all of Sideways' pieces. As I brought the motorcycle over, he looked at me. "You're all right, Possible." I was about to make a witty comeback when the ground bridge opened up. "Ratchet's gonna kill me," he whimpered.

"He has to get in line," Windblade growled. "Because if you ever pull a stupid stunt like this again..." She trailed off as they entered that swirling vortex of light. That was one fight I so didn't want to get in the middle of. I felt bad for Windblade, but I felt bad for Sideways, too. I could relate to both of them, but especially to Sideways. It seemed like he was trying to prove something. I knew all too well what that was like. I'd been trying to prove I was worthy of Ron's sacrifice ever since he died. I've never gotten to that point, though. Was he trying to make himself worthy of being an Autobot, or worthy of Windblade?

I was a good two hundred yards away from the main base at Area 51. I activated the zoom feature on my helmet's visor, and I saw the base personnel moving a dozen container drums onto a flatbed truck. A quick check of my suit's sensors confirmed what I was afraid of. They were moving whatever it was that the Decepticons were after. I was about to get on my comm when I heard a sound that chilled me to the bone.

"Decepticons! The feshlings are moving our objective. Secure the package!"

I looked up just in time to see Megatron, the monstrous looking leader of the Decepticons, transform into some kind of space age looking jet and fly for the troops.

"Run!" I shouted. "Get out of the way!" But it was too late. That mega cannon on the back of Megatron's vehicle mode spat out blasts of purple fire that exploded on contact with the ground. He was careful not to hit the truck or its cargo, but didn't seem to care about any human casualties. I got on my comm. "Megatron found what he's after!" I screamed. "I need back up over here now!"

"On my way, little lady," a voice with a Southern drawl said. Blue fire shot at Megatron, hitting him in the wing and sending him to the ground. A red Autobot with huge guns on his arms ran up just in time to see Megatron's legs form out of his wings, and the rest of the craft shift into an enormous armored body.

"Ah, Ironhide," Megatron sneered. "I guess that means this new human is your pet then."

Ironhide trained his guns on the Decepticon leader. "Trust me on this Mega-chump, this is one human you don't want to get on your bad side."

"Indeed," Megatron sneered. He looked down at me, and I swear I saw his red eyes flash at me. "Then I guess I will have to be sure not to say anything overtly offensive to her then. In the meantime..."

A ground bridge opened right behind the truck, and Megatron shoved it in. "No!" Ironhide bellowed. He opened fire, hitting Megatron in his jagged looking shoulder plates. Megatron shrugged it off and pointed his arm cannon at us.

"Such heroic nonsense," he said in a threatening voice, just as another blast tagged him right in the Decepticon symbol on his chest.

"Megatron!" Optimus Prime called out.

"Not this time, Optimus," Megatron said as he ducked into the vortex. It closed less than a second later.

"He got away, Prime," Ironhide said contritely. "And he got what he was after."

Optimus placed a comforting hand on the other bot's shoulder. "Don't worry about it, old friend."

"But we don't even know what he was after," Ironhide protested.

I took off my helmet and cleared my throat. "Actually, we do."

* * *

On a human ship it would be called sick bay. But here on the _Ark,_ it was the repair bay. I think I was expecting something that looked like a garage, but the repair bay reminded me more of a hospital than someplace machines would be repaired. But then again, the Autobots weren't ordinary machines. When I walked in, I saw Windblade with an amused look on her face. I was about ask what was so funny when I heard the commotion.

"Watch it with that thing!" It was Sideways, but he was whining. The big brooding biker bot was actually whining! This was too much. "Ratchet! I said watch it! This head doesn't come off!"

"Well then you should have thought about that before trying to get yourself splattered on the desert floor!" That was the first time I'd heard Ratchet do more than grunt. He had kind of a condescending voice. He reminded me of a doctor my mom used to work with at Middleton Medical Center. Dr. West, I think his name was. The guy was way creepy, too. I was so glad when he was fired. "And look at this!" Ratchet continued. "You may think you don't need that articulator strut, but try using that arm without it. Oh, I'm sorry, that was the arm you got torn off!"

"It was blasted off!" Sideways complained. "If you want to blame someone, blame Blitzwing!"

Windblade shook her head. "Wait until Ratchet sees the damage to the transector. He just fixed it too."

I stood beside the winged fem bot. "He has a lousy bedside manner, doesn't he?"

"First time I got hurt in the field, I lied and told him I felt better so I could leave the repair bay. Ratchet's not the most pleasant of bots. Especially if one of his tools gets broken."

I grinned and nodded. Then I got serious. "So how's our daredevil?"

"He'll be fine," Windblade said. "His legs are fixed, his armor's been welded up, his optics have been repaired, and Ratchet's reconnecting his arm. And the bike isn't in too bad of shape. I think the worst of it is a bent up front wheel and a shattered windshield."

"Talking about me behind my back?" I looked over and saw Sideways stumbling out of the actual repair center. Ratchet was behind him cleaning energon off his hands.

"Stay in rider mode," the medic said.

"No choice till you fix my ride."

"Even after," Ratchet said sternly. "I want to make sure the stitch welds on your arm are holding before you go transforming." Ratchet looked at the somewhat mangled Harley. "And I just fixed this thing, too. Keep this up, Sideways, and there won't be enough of you left to put in a recycling bin!"

"Whatever," Sideways said, back in his brooding persona.

"I mean it, Sideways! Believe it or not, there is damage that can't be repaired! And at the rate you're going, all that's going to be holding your chassis together will be stitch welds and positive thinking. You're on medical leave for the next two solar cycles, and you're confined to rider mode for that duration."

"What!?" Sideways exclaimed. "You're taking my wheels?"

Ratchet doubled down. "Your wheels can't roll right now, and until they can, you won't be getting your longer stride back, either. With the shape your transector is in, you'll cause irreparable damage if you try to transform. Now get out and let me work! Or I'll extend your grounding to a full human week!"

Sideways wasn't having it. "You know damn well that I have zero physical sensation without my transector! I can't even feel the ground under my feet." He held up his clawed club hands. "And the only reason I can grip my handlebars is because my hands plug into them! I'm useless like this!"

"You should have thought of that before playing mind games with a Decepticon instead of shooting at him."

"I did shoot at him!" Sideways protested. "But someone keeps putting off fixing my targeting system! You know, the thing that lets me get a bead on targets at a distance so I can actually hit them! The one Bulkhead damaged when he gave me that love tap with his wrecking ball!"

Ratchet brushed the smaller bot off. "That was an accident during a sparring exercise."

"An accident that nearly sent me flying off my transector while I was still connected to it!" Sideways added. "And that was weeks ago!"

"I told you, Sideways, that your targeting system is a low priority."

Sideways stalked up to the medic. "And yet when Kup comes in complaining about that burr in his rotator, you drop everything and fix it. All the while I'm stuck with a dead targeting system. But I guess me getting killed on the battlefield doesn't mean much to you, does it?"

"Come on, 'Ways," Windblade said, trying to calm her friend down. "Optimus wants us on the bridge to go over the intel Kim brought back."

We left the repair bay. Windblade was being supportive and Sideways was acting like a someone who had lost a piece of himself, which I guess he kind of did. And me, I was just trying to figure out the dynamics. I was right about Windblade and Sideways. I mean, yes, they were best friends, and it seemed more like Windblade was Sideways' _ONLY_ friend. I'd only really seen him with Bulkhead, Windblade and Ratchet, but Windblade was the only one who didn't treat Sideways like an outcast. But more than that, Windblade and Sideways argued like an old married couple, and supported each other just the same. Truth be told, I was a little jealous. There's nothing worse than realizing you care for someone as more than a friend after it's too late. My thoughts went back to Ron.

Ron was the outcast and I was the popular girl. I could have had any friends I wanted, and a lot of people, like Bonnie Rockwaller, never understood why I stuck with Ron like I did. I should have known that getting her stamp of approval after I sent Ron away at the prom was a sign that things were going to end badly. I just didn't know how badly. Then the day of the funeral, after we symbolically laid Ron to rest and it really set in that he was gone forever... I wanted to die right then. I realized that I loved Ron and that I never got to tell him. And worst of all, he died thinking I didn't care about him at all. That was now my burden to bear.

* * *

When we got to the bridge, I saw the molecular structure of the energy source I had detected. I had no clue what it was, but Optimus and Kup looked really worried. As soon as Sideways was in view, Bulkhead started snickering.

"Hey there, half pint," the big guy chortled.

"Back at you, half wit," was Sideways' response.

Bumblebee let loose with a long stream of blips and chirps. "Bee's right," Arcee said. "There isn't time for you two bickering. We've got bigger problems."

"Now much bigger?" I asked.

"Nucleon," was all Optimus said. All the bots in the room went silent. "Similar enough in composition to energon that we tried to use it as an alternative energy source. And it's a hundred times more potent. One drop of nucleon provides as much power as en entire vial of energon. But it's too potent. After prolonged use, it starts to fry Cybertronian systems, starting with our T-cogs."

"First goes the ability to transform," Kup added, "and soon after, all of our gears and servos start to freeze. Then, when we're stuck in one form and we can barely move, our processors go out. So we're basically living as dumbed down statues until, finally, life support fails and our sparks go out. At that point, death is a release."

Death. Robots that can die. I guess that shouldn't have surprised me, considering the fact that Megatron seemed determined to send the Autobots to the junkyard, but to hear them say it. Death. And they had a concept of a soul, unless I was confusing this spark thing for something else. But I didn't think so. And then I remembered the nucleon. Megatron had it now. Lots of it. "Can it be weaponized?" I asked.

"Yes," Optimus said grimly. "And weaponized nucleon can burn out an Autobot's core consciousness with a single blast." I saw the weight of the universe settle on Optimus Prime's broad shoulders. "So now Megatron has a power source that can destroy us, several innocent human lives were lost in the attack, and we're still no closer to finding the Decepticons' warship headquarters than we were before."

"One step forward, a million back," Ironohide added.

This was so not going to be a quick or easy assignment. I felt like I had just signed up for a war that I was totally not ready for. "Is this what they were looking for at NORAD?"

"We don't know," Kup said. "It's possible. Fowler's looking into it."

I nodded. There wasn't anything I could do about it then. "So what's the next move?"

Optimus picked up a device that looked like a laptop. A human sized laptop. "It's late, Agent Possible. For now, Bumblebee is going to take you to Spike's home so you can get some rest." He handed me the laptop. "This computer has the history of Cybertron, from the first dawn of our world to our forced exodus. It's not exactly light reading, but if you're going to be working with us, you'll need to know who we are."

I took the computer and smiled. "Thanks, Optimus."

Bumblebee beeped at me and transformed. The driver's side door was open. I didn't have to be fluent in Bumble-beep to know that was an invitation.

"See you around, Possible," Bulkhead sad in that booming voice of his. I stopped dead in my tracks and my body stiffened. "What?" he asked when he saw my reaction.

I forced myself to relax. "Don't say that."

The big guy was confused. "Why not?"

I looked over my shoulder. "Because those are the last words Ron ever said to me." I walked over to Bumblebee, got in, buckled up and closed the door. "You know the way, so drive on," I said.

* * *

It wasn't too late when I walked through the Witwicky's front door. I was met by a tall woman with shoulder length blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. It looked like she wanted to hug me when she answered the door. I remembered her immediately. She had been there when I saved her dad eight years ago.

"It's so good to see you again, Agent Possible," she said.

"Call me Kim, Dr. Witwicky."

"Only if you call me Carly. You know, my father still talks about how you saved him from that Dementor guy."

I smiled. Back in the old days, I would have said it was no big. In this case, I would have said that anyone could have caught her falling father while hanging upside down from the bottom wing of a biplane. But that was me being braggy. I could have just left it at no big, but I had to describe the whole thing. Instead I said, "I didn't do it alone. Wade was hacking into Dementor's systems to keep his weapons offline, Rufus was trying to land the plane, and Ron was distracting the henchmen. I had a good team back then."

Carly nodded. "I was so sorry to hear about your friend," she said. "Now, we have a room set up for you, as well as some dinner in the fridge in case you're hungry. Spike cooked tonight, so it's grilled."

"That's fine," I said with a smile. "Thanks. Where is Spike anyway?"

"He's helping our son Daniel with his homework." Carly ushered me into the house. It was pretty nice. In the living room had a large flat screen TV, a couch, on older looking coffee table, and a recliner. On the wall was Spike and Carly's wedding photo, a picture of Spike along with an older man and a little boy, and what looked like a graduation photo of Carly. I went over to the picture of Spike.

"Three generations of Witwickys," Carly said. "That's my father-in-law Daniel, or Sparkplug as he likes to be called, Spike, and our son Daniel the second."

"Sparkplug?" I asked. This family sure liked its nicknames.

"He's a mechanic," Carly answered. "You know, your father tried to recruit me to work at the Space Center in Middleton. He said my work in the field of mechanical engineering would be helpful in the construction of new spacecraft, and he was tired of the Space Center being an old boys' club."

"That sounds like my dad," I chuckled. He was so in favor of getting more women into science. He was proud of himself for getting Vivian Porter a job there.

Carly saw the laptop I was carrying and smiled. "Optimus gave you some homework, I see."

"You know about the Autobots?"

"Daniel does too. It was kind of hard to keep things quiet when the Decepticons attacked where I work on Take Your Child to Work Day last year. Daniel fell in love with the Autobots when that happened. But then again, what ten year old boy wouldn't. And he was fascinated with you and Ron after you saved his grandfather."

I nodded. I wished I could have told my family about what I was doing right now. The Tweebs would sell their left arms to get to see the Autobots, and I know my 'rents would want to know about the lead I had on what killed Ron. But classified meant classified, no matter how badly I wanted to say something. I was shaken from my musings when Spike and what looked like a smaller version of him came out of the dining room.

"Welcome to our home, Kim," Spike said.

"Wow!" Daniel added. "You're really the one who saved Grandpa Elias? And now you're working with Prime and Bumblebee?"

"That's me," I said. I remembered Daniel, too. He was only three when I saved his grandfather, but he was there with Carly when Ron and I brought down Dementor and his goons.

"Let Agent Possible get settled in," Spike told his son. "Besides, it's almost time for bed."

Daniel followed in the proud tradition of every kid who didn't want to go to bed. He tried to get out of it. "Do I have to?" Spike just gave him a stern look. "Okay, okay."

"I'm going to be here for a little while, Daniel," I told him. "I'm sure I can fit in some time for a few stories." That cheered the boy up, and he happily went off to get ready for bed.

"You're good with kids," Carly pointed out.

"A lot of babysitting when I was younger, dealing with my brothers, and helping out with Ron's baby sister." I tried not to let a new wave of anguish hit me. Hana had never gotten to meet her big brother. She was placed in the Stoppables' custody by the Yamanuchi school my senior year to keep her safe.

After Ron died, Monkey Fist backed off a little, but that didn't mean he wasn't still danferous. He was the one try Monkey Master now, and since that Ron was dead, he didn't have any rivals to get rid of. But Hana was special and needed protection just in case Monkey Fist decided to try something. Had Ron still been alive, he would have trained her. Because of me, Hana never knew her brother. When I got back to Middleton, I was going to have to set aside a day to tell her more stories about her big brother.

"Kim?" Spike had noticed me zone out. "You okay?"

"Not really," I admitted. "Sorry. It's just, you know, the anniversary of Ron's death was the other day. I kind of dwell around that time."

Spike nodded. "I understand. Well, let's get you settled in, shall we?"

* * *

The guest room was simple, but nice. And the bed was much more comfortable than what I would have found in the barracks. But I was too amped up to sleep, so I decided to do the assigned reading Optimus had given me. The records were neatly organized and easy to access. Whoever put this together was one heck of an archivist! I'd have to thank whoever did it when I saw them.

The first part of the history was actually a translation form the _Covenant of Primus,_ the Cybertronian holy text. I was more than a little surprised to find out they had a religion! They were definitely not mere machines. Anyway, the _Covenant_ told of the beginning, when two gods arose. One was Primus, the lord of light and order, and the other was Unicron, the chaos bringer. Unicron wanted to destroy all of creation, and it fell to his brother Primus to stop him. To do that, he inhabited a metal planet, and created thirteen robotic beings. The Thirteen Primes.

The Primes battled and defeated Unicron, and the metal world Primus inhabited became Cybertron. Then came the Fall of the Primes. One of them, Solus Prime, was murdered by her lover, Megatronus Prime (who Megatron named himself after), and the remaining Primes battled amongst themselves. After the dust cleared, a duplicitous Prime named Liege Maximo was dead, Onyx Prime was dying, and Megatronus Prime, now called the Fallen, had left Cybertron forever to wander the spaceways. But from the Fall of the Primes led to the rise of the Cybertronian race.

From there it went from myth to history. The rise of the city states like Iacon, which would become the capitol of Cybertron itself, and Kaon, where the Decepeticons would rise from. The planet was united under a high council, and a special defense force called the Elite Guard was formed. It was led by a bot called Nova, who held the rank of Magnus. Nova Magnus had several members of the council in his pocket, and he was able to get them to make him leader of the whole planet. The Age of the Primes had begun anew under Nova Prime.

But Nova Prime wasn't a nice guy. He wanted to spread the Cybertronian race among the stars so he could conquer the universe. He set up the cast system that would lead to the Decepticon uprising, and turned the planet into a police state. Eventually he was deposed and banished to someplace called the Dead Universe for his crimes, and a new Prime was selected.

His name was Sentinel. He was also from the Elite Guard, but he held the rank of Zeta; one step below Magnus. Sentinel Prime promised a return to the old ways, but liked the power he had. He set up an exploratory force, but after the first expedition led by his personal bodyguard was lost, Cybertron became an isolationist planet. And the caste system remained in place. Then came Megatron and the Deceopticons.

The civil war ravaged Cybertron, and Sentinel was murdered. A new Prime was needed, and one was suggested by Alpha Trion, the lead archivist at the Iacon Hall of Records. He nominated a clerk named Orion Pax. And Orion Pax became Optimus Prime. Wait, Prime was a librarian? I wonder if he put this history together.

The war raged for millennia, and eventually Cybertron had to be abandoned. The Autobots left in the _Ark,_ and the Decepticons followed in the _Nemesis._ They came across many worlds that had been colonized during Nova Prime's expansion, including Velocitron, Junkion, and Caminus, as well as an Autobot outpost planet called Animatros, before they came to Earth. What really interested me was a planet called Nebulon.

Nebulon was one of the last planets the Autobots went to after the war started, and the last link in the space bridge network. That's right, the ground bridge was a scaled down version of a galaxy spanning method of faster than light travel. From the description of it, the space bridge sounded a lot like the wormhole drive my dad was working on. Anyway, there was a group of Autobots that traveled to Nebulon aboard Fortress Maximus, and they teamed up with the local populace in an interesting way. The Autobots took their own heads off, and turned them into transforming exo-suits for the Nebulans to wear. Nebulan and Autobot became one; two minds in one body. The Headmasters were born.

Sideways was some kind of a Headmaster, so did that mean he was from the Nebulon group? Bulkhead called Sideways a wannabe, Megatron said he was counterfeit, and that nut job Blitzwing called him a science project. Maybe he was an attempt to make a Headmaster with only one mind. That would explain a few things. That's something else I'll have to ask Windblade about. I guess prejudice was something that wasn't unique to human beings.

Now the Autobors were here on Earth, over five hundred light years away from where they first started, and I was part of it. I shut down the laptop, closed it, and set it on the dresser. Then I turned off the light and climbed into bed. I was in desperate need of sleep, despite the fact that I wasn't really that interested in it.

I was way over my head and I knew it. But what else was new? I'd been getting in over my head since junior high when I answered that call for help form Mr. Paisley. But I'd always had Ron to back me up and keep me from getting too over my head. I so missed that. I missed him. It felt like I missed him more everyday. I was afraid that, eventually, that grief would destroy me.

The shrinks said that was because I never let myself mourn Ron. But I did mourn him! I mourned him day after day! I think they just thought I needed to have a good cry over it. Like that would bring him back. Other people, like my friend Monique, didn't understand how I could go without shedding a tear. What she didn't understand was that I was the one who got Ron killed, so I didn't deserve to cry! It was my fault! And no matter mow much I wanted to, I didn't get to cry over Ron's death. I had to make sure some other girl didn't go through the pain of losing the person she loved most, and no other families would lose their child.

So I closed my eyes and tried to sleep. But I knew I wouldn't be getting much tonight. I never did when I thought about Ron. And lately, I had been thinking about him a lot.

"I'm sorry, Ron," I said aloud. "And I miss you. I miss you so much."

* * *

 ** _Next Chapter:_**

 ** _Kim versus Mech!_**


	4. Chapter 4

_**Kim Possible and all related characters are the property of Disney. Transformers and all related characters are the property of Hasbro.**_

 _ **The Transformers used will be a mixture of Generation 1, Beast Wars, the IDW Comics series (which is fantastic, by the way), the Aligned Continuity (The**_ **Prime** _ **and**_ **Robots in Disguise** _ **TV series and the Fall of Cybertron and War for Cybertron video games), and a smattering of**_ **The Unicron Trilogy (Armada, Energon,** _ **and**_ **Cybertron)** _ **and**_ **Animated** _ **.**_

* * *

"The toys are evil!"

The doors busted open, the lights came up, and the music stopped dead. Everyone was staring at the terrified face of Ron Stoppable, my best friend since pre-k and my mission partner. And then everyone at the prom, my date Erik included, looked at me with accusing eyes, telling me to fix it. This was always how this dream started, and it didn't matter that I knew this was a dream, or that I had tried to learn lucid dreaming, there was nothing I could do to control what happened next. My name is Kim Possible, and in my dream I was a sixteen year old girl at her junior prom whose life was about to come crashing down around her.

I went up to Ron and tried to lead him the rest of the way into the gym, and he proceeded to spell out his Drakken/Bueno Nacho conspiracy theory. I sighed inwardly. Ron had been acting weirder than usual since Erik showed up. At least, that's what I told myself. It's not like I wanted to admit that things were changing between Ron and me. I figured that if I ignored it enough, the weirdness between us would just, you know, go away. I was so stupid. I was trying to get Ron the rest of the way inside when he squirmed out of my grasp.

"They're outside! See? See?" When Erik and I looked out the door, nothing was there. Ron's face contorted in confusion. "But, wait, they were there."

Erik and I got Ron inside just in time for the music to start up again and the lights to go down. Erik had a look on his face that was equal parts concern and smugness. "You okay?" he asked, putting a hand on Ron's shoulder. Ron swatted Erik's hand away.

"I know that tone! That's the 'Ron's making it all up' tone!"

Erik's face went from concerned/smug to irritated. "Aren't you? I mean come on! Those Lil Diablo toys are what, two inches tall?" Erik shook his head and snickered, which just ticked Ron off. "You're a real hero, you know that?"

I so didn't approve of Erik's attitude. I should have said something, but I was more concerned about not letting my perfect night go down the tubes. The part of me dreaming this was screaming at the me in the dream to open her eyes, to look at Erik and see past the chiseled face, perfect hair and broad shoulders. But just like every other time I'd had this dream, it didn't do any good. I put my hand on Erik's shoulder and got him to back down. "I'll handle this, Erik."

"Whatever," Erik muttered, wandering off the buffet table to get some punch.

Ron and I sat down. "You believe me, right, KP?" Ron's eyes were big and pleading. He was afraid, but that wasn't anything new. Ron had more phobias than I could count. I'm surprised that he didn't have a phobia about having phobias. But the fear in his eyes, the fear of being let down by his best friend, broke my heart. I looked over at Erik, who was now standing by the table we had been sitting at before, with an expectant look in his eyes and two cups of punch in his hands. This was the moment of truth. I looked back over at Ron, who continued. "Yeah, he's using the more than thirty thousand locations worldwide to distribute his little monsters! It all makes perfect sense!"

As much as I hated to admit it, it did make sense. "Ron," I started to say, but he cut me off.

"And I talked to Drakken when I called to complain about the bendy straws!"

There! That was my out! "Bendy straws? This is all about bendy straws?" Ron's face fell, but I tried not to notice. "Ron, I know things have been weird between us, but you so don't need to use bendy straws as an excuse. You could have just come and talked to me tomorrow."

That's when the last thing I ever expected happened. Ron's face went blank, and the light went out from his eyes. "So you don't believe me either." It wasn't a question, but a statement.

"Look, Ron," I said as calmly as I could, "it may have sounded like Drakken, but that doesn't mean it was him. And besides, even if he is up to something, that doesn't mean he'll be successful. I mean, this is Drakken we're talking about. _Drakken!_ He'll probably trip over his own feet and defeat himself. And even if he doesn't, the authorities can handle this tonight. Let the police, the Army or Global Justice handle things for a change. It isn't up to me to save the world every hour of every day!"

Ron wasn't having it. He stood up and headed for the door. I rushed to catch up to him. "Ron, where are you going?"

"To stop Drakken," was all Ron said. "You want your date night? Fine! I'll do this myself." He got to the door and stopped. Then he looked over his shoulder at me. "See you around, Possible," was all he said. Then he stepped through the gym doors and out of my life forever. I never saw him again.

My eyes closed and my shoulders slumped. Then Bonnie came up to me. "It's about time you got rid of that loser. Nice job, K."

I was about to go over to Erik when Monique stopped me. She wasn't hiding how tweaked she was. "You'd better hope you're right about all this," was all she said. "Otherwise losing your best friend isn't the only thing you'll have to worry about!"

That got me tweaked. "You're the one who told me to focus on Erik earlier when the Kimmunicator went off!"

"I'm also was the one who told you to stand by your Ron." She took off for the corner of the gym where Tara was standing. Tara was also giving me such the nasty look. Not that I didn't deserve it. I headed off to dance some more with Erik when the gym was replaced by the Witwicky's guest bedroom.

* * *

I'm normally not too happy about being woken up by nature's call, but not this time. I hated that dream. It wasn't a nightmare so much as it was my subconscious making me relive the worst night of my life. At least it stopped there, and I didn't have to relive the rest of the night, like when the attack started and Erik showed his true colors. Or when I found out that Bueno Nacho Headquarters had been destroyed, that Ron had been there, and that no one got out alive.

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding, got up, and headed off to the bathroom. When I came back from doing my business, I took a glance at the alarm clock. It was 3:47 in the morning. I'd gotten maybe three and a half hours of sleep. That would have to be enough. I had no desire to go back to sleep only to have that dream pick up where it left off. It wouldn't have been the first time that happened.

Instead of going back to bed, I opened up the laptop I brought with me from Global Justice, turned it on, and switched on the special encrypted wireless connection Wade had come up with. He wrote the encryptions himself, so I knew no one could hack it and get into what I was working on. Then I grabbed the files I'd gotten from Agent Fowler. I got on the GJ servers and started a search, using Mech's modus operandi as my criteria. I had to see if Mech had been hitting GJ strongholds to grab confiscated villain tech, or some of our own stuff. The problem with a worldwide peacekeeping agency is not everyone talks to everyone else. And Dr. Director didn't always tell me everything.

Back in the old days this was something Wade would work on for me. But Global Justice wanted me, not Wade. Besides, Wade so didn't want GJ using his tech for their own purposes. Since Wade took the extra bells and whistles out of my battlesuit, Dr. Director's tech people weren't as interested in it. That was the only good thing about it not working the way Wade had intended. I got to use the suit and his work didn't get reverse engineered.

I took out a pad of paper and a pen, and started jotting down notes of missing villain machinery and anything else that might be Mech doing some shopping. Maybe if I could determine a pattern, I could give this to Wade (provided that Agent Fowler was cool with me bringing him on) and we could figure out what these guys were up to. And maybe, just maybe, we could track one of those missing devices and find where Mech was hiding out. It was a longshot, I know, but it sure beat the heck out of watching Ron walk out of my life on endless repeat.

There was a bright side, believe it or not. I was usually a wreck for about a week and a half after the anniversary of Ron's death, and I would have that dream at least a half a dozen times. This was only the third time I'd had it this year. Maybe my therapist was right and I was slowly coming t terms with it. Or my mind was changing the timing of the dreams to throw me off. That was more likely.

By six, when I heard the rest of the household starting to wake up, I had several pages of notes. I would show them to Spike, and then we'd take them to Agent Fowler. I had been brought in to help with Mech, and this was me doing my job. I'd also run a search to see if the Decepticons had been going after anything that was on GJ's radar. I was here mainly to help with the fight against Mech, but I'd involved myself in the war between the Autobots and Decepticons, and I wanted to give Optimus Prime any help I could. Maybe I could find out what was being held at NORAD when the 'Cons attacked there.

* * *

My mom always tried to make breakfast for my dad, the Tweebs and me every morning before we all got our day started. And Ron always came over for a few helpings, himself. It took Mom almost a year to stop making extra. That was her way of not wanting to accept what had happened. Anyway, Spike Witwicky seemed like the same sort as my mom. When I came out to the kitchen after brushing my teeth and hair (which didn't take long since it was so much shorter) and getting dressed, there was Spike in jeans and a polo shirt cooking up some pancakes at the griddle while bacon and sausage were frying up.

"Something sure smells good," I said. I set down the notes I had taken on the dining room table.

Spike looked over at me and grinned. "Morning, Kim," he said. "There's coffee if you want any."

"Please and thank you," I said, going to get a mug and fill it up. "Do you always make breakfast?"

"I try to," he said. "It all depends on what work has me doing. But nine times out of ten I make breakfast and Carly makes dinner. We try to split as much of the housework as we can."

"Nice."

Spike saw the fat folder I'd set on the table. "What's all that?"

"Research I did last night," I replied. "Well, early this morning. I didn't sleep so well."

Spike put the last of the food on a plate and left it on the kitchen counter. "Nightmares?"

I gave Spike a weak grin. "Old memories that my subconscious decided I needed to be reminded of. And before you ask, yes I've been talking to someone about it."

Spike nodded, fixed himself a plate, and sat down. "I know we don't know each other very well, but I'd like to think that we can be friends," he said. "And as a potential friend, and as someone who's working with you, I need to know that you've got your head on straight."

"It is," I said. "I won't let you down out in the field. I haven't made peace with my part in Ron's death yet. I don't know if I ever will. And I know that torturing myself about it is counterproductive. But I am trying. That's really all I can do right now."

Spike took a sip of his coffee and nodded. He was about to say something when Carly and Daniel came to the table. I could tell by the look on Spike's face that this discussion was tabled, but only for the time being. Under normal circumstances, I would be so tweaked about him wanting to have a heart to heart with me about this, but it didn't. Maybe it was because of how he and his family had tried to make me feel welcome in their home when they didn't even have to let me stay here. Besides, I could use some more friends. I only had two friends left, just Wade and Monique, and I didn't see them all that much anymore. I'd been distancing myself from people so I couldn't get hurt again. That was something else my shrink had been trying to help me with. But deep down, I didn't want help. I didn't want to get hurt again, or lose anyone else. The best way to do that was cut myself off.

I know, I have a lot of issues. At this point I probably had a lifetime subscription.

* * *

Agent Folwer had one heck of a poker face. When I brought up asking Wade to do some digging, all he did was set his arms on his desk, steeple his fingers, and lean forward. "Wade Load," he finally said.

I was standing at attention in front of Fowler's desk. I was wearing my standard Global Justice uniform, which clashed a bit with the suits and Army uniforms around me. To be honest, I wasn't a big fan of the GJ uniforms. We got made fun of by some of the other law enforcement agencies for wearing uniforms that were so tight fitting. I hated the way it hugged me in all the wrong places, and how it rode up, but it was what I had to work with. All things considered, I preferred my old mission gear. Well, until it was discontinued. That was why I usually wore my battlesuit. It may have been formfitting, but it was comfortable, and stayed where it was supposed to.

"Yes, sir," I said, answering his question. "I worked with Wade for years when I was a freelancer. There isn't a database in the world that he can't hack his way into. I can tell him who and what we're looking for, and he'll scour every computer system in the world in order to find it."

"Good plan," Fowler finally said. I have to admit that it surprised me. He looked up at me and grinned. "I'm well aware of young Mr. Load and his qualifications. The CIA, FBI, NSA and a whole bunch of other agencies would love to have him on their payroll. Go ahead and contact him." He looked down at the sheaf of notes I had presented him with when I first got on base this morning. "Let him know what you found. If he's as good as we all think he is then we might actually get a real clue as to who these yahoos are. And if I'm not mistaken, we have enough in the budget that I can send a little compensation his way for consulting."

Fowler stood up and circled is desk. "I think ditching the Global Justice pajamas might be a good idea," he said. "I always thought they were pretty dumb looking. Business casual is fine for field work. Also, Agent Witwicky mentioned your bout of insomnia to me. I'd like to keep you out of the field today. I'm fine with you reporting to the _Ark,_ but no combat situations until you've had your full eight hours. Understood?"

"Yes, sir," I nodded. I was so going to have a talk with Spike about this.

"Dismissed."

* * *

Agent Fowler's office was in Hanger E, which was kind of fitting. Spike's office was right next door, and that door was open. I went in and closed it. "You just had to tell him."

Spike looked up at me with no hint of surprise. "Like I said, I need to know that you've got your head on straight. And right now, it doesn't seem like it. Look at yourself, Kim. You have dark circles under your eyes, and you're pale! You look like you haven't slept well in a month."

I closed my eyes for a moment, and I felt the fatigue trying to weigh me down like an anchor. "I get it, okay? But I don't like being taken off duty."

"You're not off duty, Kim," Spike said. "You're just not going out in the field until you've gotten some sleep. Look, I set you up in the office on the other side of the hangar. You can put some of that research you did to good use."

* * *

I may have been confined to base, but at least I had an office. With a nice desk, a phone, and a computer with a secure uplink. I couldn't help but smile when I saw the face of my youngest, oldest friend. Wade Load. He was still a little on the heavy side, but he'd grown into himself in the last few years. His smile mirrored my own.

"It's really good to see your face, Kim," he said.

"Likewise." It almost felt like old times. "So I'm working with Unit E," I told him.

"After that botched mission the other night?" It didn't surprise me that he already knew. It was Wade. He had the entire world wired.

"Yeah. And I have some information for you." I had transcribed my notes into the computer so I could send them off to Wade. "We're hunting a group called Mech. And we're looking for this guy." I pulled up the latest image we had of Colonel Bishop; a man with a severe jaw, a very short haircut, and scars going across his nose and over the left side of his forehead. "His name's Colonel Leland Bishop, and he headed up Project Damocles." The look on Wade's face told me he wasn't familiar with it. Something else that was so top secret Wade couldn't hack it. "It's an orbital weapons platform. It's what blew up Bueno Nacho Headquarters and killed Ron."

Wade's face turned serious. "What do you need from me?"

"I need you to scour whatever database you can find and see if you can figure out what these Mech guys have been stealing. And I need you to search for Colonel Bishop. I want to see him rot in a jail cell for the rest of his life." As an afterthought, I added, "Agent Fowler is ready to pay you."

"Fine," he said. "But I'm doing this for Ron." He started running his fingers over his keyboard. "What happened to this Bishop guy?"

"Vanished off the face of the Earth after Bueno Nacho Headquarters went up."

"Do you think Bishop and Mech are connected?"

"Yes." I thought for a minute. "And even though no one else has said anything, I'll bet Agents Fowler and Witwicky are thinking the same thing. Why else dangle Mech in front of me like a carrot in order to get me to help?"

"You have a lot of info here, Kim. It'll take me a while to go through it all. I'll call you when I find something out."

I smiled. "You rock, Wade." It felt so good to say that again. The screen went dark. I looked over to the other side of my office to a couch. That fatigue was hitting me again. What the heck? A nap wouldn't hurt.

* * *

Well, this was a first. I'd never had a dream pick up where it left off seven hours after I woke up. I guess my subconscious really wanted me to finish reliving the worst night of my life.

Ron had just left, and Erik had pulled me out to the dance floor to get my mind off things. But I couldn't concentrate on dancing or having fun. I kept thinking about the Kimmunicator in my purse; the one I had ignored a couple of hours before. I thought about getting on it and telling Wade what Ron had told me, and asking him to look into it, but Erik kept me distracted. It worked, too. But then again, that's what Erik was made for.

The magic of the prom came to a sudden end when the gym was shaken by a series of explosions outside. It was a slow dance, and my head was resting on Erik's shoulder. I looked up when the first shockwave hit, pulled away from Erik and ran for the door. When I got outside, my jaw dropped. I saw three giant robots that looked a lot like the Lil Diablo toys. My heart sank. "Ron was right," I said in a hushed whisper. "He was right!" I dashed back inside and almost ran right into Erik.

He grabbed me by the shoulders to steady me. "You okay?"

"No" I said frantically. "Ron was right! Dammit, why didn't I listen to him?" I shrugged out of Erik's grasp and went for my Kimmunicator. Or at least, I tried to. Hands like vices grabbed me by my upper arms and fingertips dug into my flesh. This time I couldn't get out of their grasp. "Erik? What are you doing?"

The kindness on his face was gone, replaced with a malice that chilled me to the bone. This wasn't the Erik I'd been so taken with for the last few weeks. This wasn't the same Erik I'd blown off my best friend for. "I'm doing my job." He pulled me in close then threw me into a table ten feet away. I slammed into the table and felt my right forearm crunch. The pain was excruciating, but it also helped get me out of my shocked stupor. I fought my way up off the ground, and out of the splintered remains of the table. I looked up just in time to see Erik encircled by a blue ring of light that, when it passed over his body, replaced his white tux with a synthodrone's uniform.

"No," I whispered. I stumbled to my feet, cradling my broken arm against my body. "For God's sake, Erik, why are you doing this?"

Erik's once handsome face split into an ugly sneer. "There is no Erik," he said with contempt. "There never was. My name is Synthodrone 901."

The rest of my heart sank into my feet. He was a synthodrone. I'd been played. This was part of Drakken's plan all along, it had to be! He sent Erik to keep me distracted, and it worked. I slowly inched my way towards Erik. I had to figure a way out of this. I was in shock, my arm was broken, and I was alone.

"All right, kid, THAT'S ENOUGH!"

I looked up and saw Mr. Barkin coming at Erik. "Mr. Barkin, no!" But Barkin wasn't gonna back down.

Barkin charged at and grabbed Erik, but Erik slipped from the bigger man's grasp and spun him around, getting Barkin in a bear hug from behind. Then sparks flew from Erik's arms, sending a surge of electricity through Mr. Barkin's body. The former Marine stiffened and started to spasm before he went limp. Then Erik tossed Mr. Barkin aside like a sack of garbage. Which is what I felt like.

"Don't worry about him, Kimmie," Erik sneered. "Worry about yourself. Now that Dr. Drakken's plan is progressing without you interfering, I can move on to my secondary objective." I could guess what was coming. I just had to keep him talking, and let the pain from my arm cut through the shock.

"Let me guess," I said. "Capture me and take me to Drakken so he can gloat." I needed to think. Synthodrones were basically slime balloons, under so much pressure that the least little puncture makes them gush like a soda that's been shaken! All I needed was a pointed object. A knife, a fork, heck, even a high heel! But I was wearing flats, and the only cutlery we had at the buffet table was plastic. I'd gotten out of tougher scrapes before, but that was when I had backup. Now I was on my own.

I looked around at the terrified faces of my classmates. Monique was staring at me wide eyed, trying to figure out what I was going to do. Tara and Hope were huddled together with their dates, and I think Bonnie was in shock. Not even Brick Flagg or the rest of the football team were able to move. Like I said, I was on my own. Okay, I had to think. I needed to cut this creep open, or find a way to pop him, or something! Think, Possible! There's always a way out. Anything is possible for a Possible!

I glanced around me, trying to find something to fight with. Then I saw Mr. Barkin's prone form on the gym floor. He was a Pixie Scout troop leader, and he always had a pocket knife! I tried not to grin. I didn't want Erik to know I had a plan. I had to keep him from thinking I was a threat until it was too late. So I played up the whole damsel in distress thing.

"Please, Erik," I pleaded, trying to make myself look helpless. "Please don't do this."

Erik responded the way I wanted him to. He smirked and slowly advanced towards me. I backed up, slowly snaking around to the fallen teacher and, hopefully, something I could fight back with. He kept moving forward, one step at a time, and I moved back. I even worked up a few crocodile tears to sell the performance. "Sorry, Possible, but it's my job. Actually, I'm not sorry. I only wish that loser was here so I could tell him exactly what I think about him!"

I was in range, and I dropped my act. "I don't think so!" I crouched and did a leg sweep, kicking Erik's feet out from under him and sending him to the floor. Then I jumped on a chair and leaped as far as I could to get to Mr. Barkin. I came to a skidding halt, crouched down and got the knife out of Barkin's pocket. I opened the blade and then flung myself at Erik. I drove that knife right between his perfect eyes. "Ron's so not a loser. You are!" I pulled the knife out and the goo erupted like a slime volcano.

"What? No. Noooooo!" Erik looked like that bad guy from the third _Indiana Jones_ movie after he drank from the wrong Grail. He deteriorated and became a puddle on the floor.

"You're the loser," I repeated. "And so am I." I quickly went over to Mr. Barkin, who was coming around. After making sure he was okay, I ran for my purse and my Kimmunicator. My heart broke when Wade answered. He looked terrified.

"Kim! Thank God! I lost contact with Ron over an hour ago!"

"Where is he, Wade?" I was already planning on finding him and taking my frustrations out on Drakken.

"Bueno Nacho Headquarters," Wade replied. "But like I said, I lost contact." Just then, the explosions outside stopped. "Wait a minute. The robots are shrinking down." He looked up at me with hope in his eyes. "I think Ron did it."

I rushed outside to see Lil Diablos raining form the sky. "Yeah," I said with a relieved smile. "I think he did." Ron did what I wouldn't do. He saved the world.

Then I heard something that will haunt me for the rest of my life. Wade let out the most pained yell I've ever heard. "No! Ron!"

"What? What happened?"

There were tears streaming from Wade's face. "Bueno Nacho Headquarters," he said. "It just exploded. And I lost Ron's tracking signal."

I dropped the Kimmunicator and walked outside. Real rain was starting to fall along with the little plastic weapons of mass destruction. I sank to my knees, forgetting about the pain in my arm. The pain in my heart was all I noticed. I thought I heard Monique come up beside me, but I couldn't be certain. Then I thought I heard someone calling my name. When I looked up, it wasn't Monique's face, but Spike's.

* * *

I shot up into a sitting position, my breathing and heartbeat both heavy. "Dammit," I hissed. "Dammit."

"Kim?" Spike's voice was filled with genuine concern. "Are you all right? Was it another bad dream?"

"Same one," I panted. "It was just finishing. How long was I out?"

"Five hours." Spike went over to the water cooler to get me a drink. I downed it in one gulp. "Are you sure you're all right?"

"No," I said honestly. "But it doesn't matter. I have to be." Then I saw the look on his face. "What's the sitch?"

"Mech. They've been spotted at Moffet Field in Mountain View California."

I nodded. I remembered my dad mentioning something about an experimental spacecraft he was helping design that was being tested at the NASA Ames Research Center at Moffet. This was something big, and I needed to be there. "Five hours, you say? Add that to the three and a half from last night and that gives me a full eight, which means I'm not grounded anymore. I'm in."

"Kim, I need to make sure you've got your head on straight for this. We need you, I know that, but I can't have you out there if you're focused on the past." Spike was wearing a serious face that Ron would have been proud of.

"I'm good," I said. "Besides, my dad was heading out there for the final testing on a ship he was working on. There is no way I'm letting him get caught in Mech's crossfire. I'm going."

Spike nodded. "Okay. Bumblebee's outside. He'll get us to the _Ark,_ then we'll bridge to California from there."

* * *

I understood why the ground bridge didn't get used more. That thing ate a lot of energon. Still, it turned a forty five minute drive into a two minute one, and then made the trip from Nevada to California in less than five seconds. I was flying in Windblade while Bulkhead, Bumblebee and Ironhide were driving. Arcee, Optimus and Ratchet were already there. Only Kup was left at base to make sure Sideways didn't break his medical grounding. I don't know who I felt sorrier for, Sideways or Kup.

I was mentally going over the last few shreds of information we had. My dad was at Moffet Field doing what was supposedly a field test on a new rocket propulsion system. In reality, it was a test of the power source for the new wormhole drive he had been working on for the _Keppler_ rocket. Well, the _Keppler II,_ anyway. That mullet brain Motor Ed stole the first ship and turned it into a hot rod. That's what brought me out of retirement my senior year.

The wormhole drive was powered by an antimatter conversion system (thank you, _Captain Constellation_ for giving my dad ideas), and I would bet that's what Mech wanted. Maybe even the Decepticons, too. From what I'd heard about Megatron, he liked his artillery big and plentiful.

"Energon shard for your thoughts," Windblade said.

I looked at the instrument panel. "My father's at the airfield," I said. "I want to keep him and the other scientists out of the crossfire."

"Absolutely," Windblade agreed. "We're coming up on Moffet Field."

I looked out the canopy and saw a huge concrete hangar. I immediately recognized this. Hangar 1. My dad took Ron and me here when we were little. He wanted to show us some aerospace history. It was a fun afternoon. I shook myself out of my memories. _Head in the game,_ I reminded myself. _Dad's somewhere down there, and he needs me._ "What's the sitch on the ground?"

"Optimus and the others have engaged a Mech unit. Mech's being held down for the time being, but there's another unit heading towards Hangar 1."

I smiled. "Okay, let's get in there and stop that second bunch. We get behind them and take them down."

Windblade took us down and transformed, letting me off easy again, and drawing her sword; her Vortex Blade. Winblade held it in some sort of combat stance. "Hello, boys," she said. "Buy a girl a drink?"

The broad shouldered man in the green tactical armor who was coordinating the operation calmly turned around. "Well well well," he said. "Agent Kim Possible. I should have expected this after what happened in southern California. And look who else is here. It's the jet who attacked my Siberian facility last year." I could see him glaring at Windblade through the lenses of his goggles. "You stole something of mine, and I want it back. Now tell me, where is Project Cy-Kill?" He pulled a gun and fired, sending a blast of red hot energy at Windblade's chest. The blast struck and sent her flying back.

I dived off to the side and activated my battlesuit. At the same time I pulled the sidearm I had brought with me and aimed. It wasn't a TASER or a blaster like these guys had, it was a one of a kind pulse stunner that Wade built for me. I hadn't had a chance to use it with Global Justice, but since I was currently lacking my shock watch, I decided to pull it out of mothballs and put it to good use. I didn't think that a simple stun pulse would do much against this guy's armor, but it didn't have to.

I saw Windblade pull herself to her feet. There was a scorch mark on her chest. "His name is Sideways," she growled. "And I'm not letting you get your hands on him ever again, Silas!"

I let that sink in. Sideways was a Mech experiment. No wonder the other Autobots were so standoffish around him. And here was the Mech leader, the guy I was brought in to stop, and he was in my sights! It was time to get to work. "You're under arrest, Silas, for one hundred and fifty counts of theft against government facilities, four hundred counts of assault against government and military personnel, and three counts of assault against Global Justice agents." I primed the stunner. "Come quietly or I will open fire."

Silas barely glanced at me. "Do you really think that cap gun will work against me, Possible?"

"Not really," I admitted. Then I squeezed the trigger, sending a stun pulse screaming at his chest. It hit him dead on, knocking him back. Like I thought, the pulse didn't do much, but it gave me my opening. I pounced. I punched him in the same spot I had just shot, hoping that this armor didn't give full protection. I hoped that the stun blast would at least leave a sore spot that I could exploit. Unfortunately for me, it didn't. Unfortunately for him, with the battlesuit augmenting my strength I packed a punch that he felt, even through the padding.

His armor was hard as steel. If not for the battlesuit, I might have broken my hand when I hit that hard shell. But I kept going, sending punches at his masked face as well as his body. I connected with some hits, but he blocked others.

"Your sixteen forms of Kung-Fu are nothing to me," Silas gloated.

I smiled. "Seventeen." I got in on all fours and performed a backwards flip, getting Silas in the chin with both feet. Master Sensei and Yori had taught me Tai Sheng Pek Kwar so I could protect Hana better. Silas didn't know that, so he wasn't ready to defend against it. He was knocked back and his mask was dislodged. I pulled my gun again and grabbed the stunned leader of Mech. I pulled his mask the rest of the way off and aimed at his head. "Like I said. You're under arrest."

When he looked at me, I almost lost it. I didn't know what to expect, but it wasn't that. I had told Wade that I thought there was a connection with Project Damocles and Mech, but not this close of a connection. I was staring at the face of Colonel Leland Bishop. This was the man who developed that super weapon. This was the man who killed Ron.

 _ **Next: Questions are answered as Kim faces off with Silas.**_

 _ **Author's Note: My home computer is on the fritz, so updates going forward might not be as regular.**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**Kim Possible and all related characters are the property of Disney. Transformers and all related characters are the property of Hasbro.**_

 _ **The Transformers used will be a mixture of Generation 1, Beast Wars, the IDW Comics series (which is fantastic, by the way), the Aligned Continuity (The**_ **Prime** _ **and**_ **Robots in Disguise** _ **TV series and the Fall of Cybertron and War for Cybertron video games), and a smattering of**_ **The Unicron Trilogy (Armada, Energon,** _ **and**_ **Cybertron)** _ **and**_ **Animated** _ **.**_

* * *

Wade had asked me if I thought there was a link between Mech, the techno-terroritsts I was here to stop, and Leland Bishop, the man behind the Project Damocles weapons platform that killed my best friend Ron Stoppable six years ago. I told him I thought there was. I never, in my wildest conspiracy theories, thought that Bishop was in fact Silas, the leader of Mech. My name is Kim Possible. I'm a Global Justice agent on detached assignment with Unit E, and I've got this bastard in my sights.

"Leland Bishop," I said, fighting to keep the rage out of my voice. "In addition to those other charges, I'm adding sixty two counts of murder, including the murders of Drew Lipsky, Sheila Gordon, and Ronald Stoppable. Surrender now, or," I set the pulse stunner to full, "I'll see what this does to your head at full power."

Bishop, or Silas, didn't flinch. "Drakken's and Shego's names I recognize, but not that third one." He grinned at me. "Oh wait. That was the loser sidekick who used to follow you around like a lost puppy and got in over his head at Bueno Nacho Headquarters. Yeah, I know him now. You should be happy that I put him out of his misery."

I tensed up. I wanted to beat this guy to death with my bare hands. "Don't do it, Kim," I heard Windblade say. The towering Autobot jet was my partner on this mission, and she was trying to talk me down. "Believe me, I want to get this guy for what he did to Sideways, but not this way."

 _Thank you, Windblade,_ I thought, remembering the way she snapped at Silas when he let it slip that Sideways, the Headmaster I'd been working with, had been a Mech experiment.

Wannabe. Counterfeit. Science experiment. The insults Bulkhead, Megatron and Blitzwing had thrown at Sideways made sense now. He had been built or rebuilt by Mech, and Mech had murdered the best friend I ever had in my life; someone I hadn't realized I was in love with until it was too late. Finally, I had the man responsible in my grasp, and I wasn't going to let him get away.

"Windblade," I said. "Hold him." Windblade grabbed the Mech leader, probably harder than she needed to. Before we left for this mission, I had been given a specially made earpiece to link me into the Autobot communication frequency. I tapped that earpiece to open the comlink. "This is Possible. Windblade and I have Silas in custody. We need backup now!"

"We're a little busy right now," the voice of Arcee said. I heard energy blasts and gunshots at the same time.

"Backup is on the way," a gruff, gravelly voice said. This was the voice of Sideways, or Project Cy-Kill, or whatever he was. No sooner had he said that than the swirling green vortex of the ground bridge opened up and a teal 1950's Ford pickup came shooting out. In the bed was a bulky, human sized bot with huge arms and legs. Sideways had joined the battle after all even if he didn't have the transector body he turned into the head for. Blasts of concentrated energon were shooting from his hands. Ratchet was going to blow a gasket when he saw this.

The truck skidded to a stop and Sideways jumped out. Then the truck transformed into a dinged up looking bot. Kup's hands retracted into his forearms, allowing what looked like high tech shotguns to pop out. "All right, kids," Kup said. "Time for the closer to take the mound." I guess Kup was a baseball fan.

Sideways came stalking up to Silas. "Hello again, Silas," he said in a voice dripping with rage. He pointed his clawed hands at Silas, which deployed several gun barrels that glowed a bright blue. "Give me an excuse..."

Silas let out a chuckle. "Project Cy-Kill. How nice to see you again. Part of you, anyway. Tell me, where's that lovely transector of yours? We put a lot of work into refurbishing that."

This guy was way too confident, and that made me nervous. He was smart, and that was dangerous in a bad guy. I pulled the handcuffs from my belt and cautiously approached. "You have the right to remain silent," I said. "Anything you do say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you can't afford an attorney, one will be appointed to you at no charge. Do you understand these rights?"

Silas again chuckled. "How cute. You think you've won. Well let me tell you that you have the right to let me go. If you give up that right, you will be hurt. Severely." He snapped his fingers, and a blast came out of nowhere, striking Windblade in the back and sending her toppling forward. Sideways was at her side in the blink of an eye.

When the dust cleared, I saw a Mech trooper wearing what looked like a combat frame over a standard Mech uniform. Silas smirked at me. "Agent Possible, Project Cy-Kill, allow me to introduce the next step in Mech's personalized weaponry. Project Circuit Breaker. We reverse engineered the exoskeleton from you, Cy-Kill, and the power suit from information we liberated from young Mr. Load's database." With that, the dark trim started glowing white. Silas chuckled when he saw the look of surprise on my face. "There isn't a computer system in the world that Mech can't get into." He turned his gaze towards Sideways. "Thanks in no small part from what we learned from rebuilding your processor, Cy-Kill."

Sideways left Windblade after making sure she was okay, and stalked up to the smug Mech leader. "My name is Sideways," he growled.

"Your name is whatever I say it is!" Silas snapped. "I rebuilt you! You belong to me."

"He's just trying to get under your plates, 'Ways," Windblade struggled to say.

"That's right. I'm just trying to get under your plates. The plates I gave you." Silas stepped back, allowing Circuit Breaker to come forward. "And I'm going to take them away. Circuit Breaker, you know what to do."

"Yes, sir," a monotone, emotionless voice replied. Whoever this Circuit Breaker guy was, he sounded more robotic than the real robots.

I glanced over at Kup, who was helping Windblade, and then at Sideways, who was doing all he could not to jump at Silas and rip him apart. Kup nodded at me. He and I were on the same page. I got the same nod from Sideways. "All right, tall, dark and gruesome," I said to the guy in the suit. "Bring it."

We all acted at once. Kup pulled Windblade out of the way and fired off a volley of energon blasts, causing the distraction Sideways and I needed. Sideways went at Silas like a wild animal, and I squared off with my new dance partner.

Circuit Breaker and I circled each other, sizing each other up. I knew I was at a disadvantage. This guy had a battlesuit like my old one, and I was pretty sure Mech had solved the problems that model had with crashing because the cloaking and energy redirection systems. He also had that exoskeleton. His arms and legs were partially encased by that frame, as well as parts of his chest and back. His head would be vulnerable if it weren't for that armored mask, but I knew my way around those now. And then there was the fact that I didn't know what kind of combat training this guy had. I was totally in the dark. I smiled. It wouldn't be the first time.

I made like I was going to throw a punch, and I got the reaction I wanted. He went to block, and I pulled my stunner. It was still at full power, and I aimed at where I guessed the power pack would be. The metal of the exoskeleton acted as a conductor, sending a high powered stun pulse through the goon's whole body. Unfortunately, the powersuit insulated him. But back on the plus side, the suit itself was shorted out by the surge. Win-lose-win. I just hoped it would be enough.

Circuit Breaker hit a release catch that disengaged the exoskeleton. Then he slowly started to approach me. At the same time I saw Kup, Windblade and Sideways. They were fighting off not just Silas, but a whole platoon of Mech agents. Three Autobots, one injured and one without most of his body, against a whole mess of high tech bad guys. Kup and Sideways fired shots off at the Mech soldiers, while Windblade, who was obviously in a lot of pain after getting shot in the back, was blocking Mech's blasts with her Vortex Blade sword. We were all just buying time, hoping that Optimus and the others would get here soon to bail us all out.

Unfortunately, there wasn't a whole lot I could do to help my three friends out. All I had was a pulse stunner, and it I had already seen how ineffective that was against Mech's uniforms. All I could do was keep the guy in the battlesuit busy. Speaking of which...

He came at me, and since he wasn't wearing the iron long johns anymore, he was a lot faster. He was taller than me, and even though he wasn't built like a GWA wrestler, I could tell that, under that battlesuit, he was probably really wiry. I was going to have to fight smart. Time to pull out the monkey kung fu. I got into a quick strike stance, and he matched it. Then he shot out his right foot, aiming right for the side of my head. I barely blocked it in time. This guy knew Tai Sheng Pek Kwar! Not too many people knew that fighting style! Who was this guy?

The fight really took off. He punched, I blocked. I kicked and he dodged. I switched up my fighting styles, going from monkey, to mantis, to whatever I could pull out of the back of my brain. This guy kept with the monkey kung fu, but there was something weird about the way he moved. He was somewhat proficient, but he was stiff, like his body wasn't used to moving like he was. Again, who was this guy?

I was starting to get tired. I hadn't had a long, drawn out fight since Shego died, and I most def wasn't used to it anymore. My dance partner, on the other hand, seemed like he was still doing all right. I was going to be on the ropes sooner rather than later. I needed to end this, and now. I got down into a crouch, ready to pounce at this guy and hopefully take him down. He got into a defensive stance, ready for me to attack. Instead, I ran.

I had hoped that my ruse would have taken Circuit Breaker off guard, but it didn't. He just took off into an almost flat out sprint. He was going to overtake me if I wasn't careful. I needed to find something to strike back with. I needed some kind of weapon, a tool, something! Unfortunately for me, I was coming up empty. Then I saw that I was running up to a wall. I grinned. I could use this. I poured on the speed, running headlong into the side of the concrete hangar. Circuit Breaker was right behind me.

When I was a few feet away from the wall, I dived off to the side. Circuit Breaker couldn't react in time. He went headfirst into the wall, and dislocated his neck. It was so gross to see, but what was even grosser was the lack of a crunch, and the way he stood up straight with his head hanging limply from his shoulders. He grabbed his head and readjusted it. Then he turned around and slowly stalked up to me. Okay, this guy wasn't human, which meant that the gloves were officially off!

I pulled a knife from the sheath on my leg. After what happened at junior prom six years ago, I made a promise to myself that I would never be without a blade ever again. I held the knife with its blade pointed down, against my arm. Circuit Breaker kept coming up to me, and I just knew that he, or it, would block the knife if I slashed at it. I was going to have to be smart about this. I threw a punch with my left hand, the one without the blade, and he went to block. Then, in a lightning fast move I swung my right hand at Circuit Breaker's midsection, bringing the blade up at the same time. My knife dug into the material of the battlesuit.

There was a lot of resistance, and I didn't know if it was from the suit, or whatever Circuit Breaker itself was made of. It didn't matter. I couldn't drive the blade home. I pulled back and backed out of the way, right before Circuit Breaker took a swing at me. Again, I faked an attack, making like I was going to stab for the chest, instead I spun and went into a high roundhouse kick, nailing Circuit Breaker in the head and knocking the mask loose. There was my opening. I attacked, leaping at the Mech goon and grabbing for the mask. I flipped over him, taking the mask with me. When I got the mask off, I saw a completely featureless face, with the exception of photo-receptors where the eyes should have been. It looked like a mannequin's head. Without dropping the mask I attacked again, driving the knife into the side of that plain white head.

The blade sunk in and, when I pulled it back out, released a geyser of neon green goo. A synthodrone. Circuit Breaker was a damn synthodrone! I stood back and watched as the thing melted into a puddle of goop and a deflated body. That's when Silas and the rest of Mech took notice. And they were not happy.

"Quickly!" Silas bellowed. "Recover the exo-sleeve!"

"So not," I growled. Before Mech's people could advance on me, we heard a symphony of engines. When I looked up, there was Optimus Prime and the rest of the Autobots. I grinned at Silas. "In the immortal words of Ron Stoppable, 'Booyah!' Now, I believe I read you your rights earlier. Those still stand, by the way. So why don't you make this easy and give up?"

Silas was tweaked and he wasn't trying to hide it. He pulled a walkie talkie off of his belt. "Do we have the objective?"

"Negative," a voice replied. "The objective isn't here."

"Dammit!" Silas glared at me as Optimus and the others transformed and trained their weapons on Silas. "Well then. I guess that means this expedition is over." He pressed a button on his gauntlet, setting off a series of explosions back at the main complex. "You have a choice, Optimus Prime," Silas said in a gloating voice. "The central complex is now on fire, and will burn to the ground before the Mountain View Fire Department can get here. If I'm not mistaken, there are at least a hundred people in there. Including one Dr. James Timothy Possible. You can keep us prisoner and let them die, or let us go and go save them."

"Or," Ironhide said, "some of us go do the rescue mission, and the rest of us hold you here until the ol' paddy wagon shows up."

"It'll take all of us to get those people to safety," Sideways said when everything clicked into place. "And he knows it." Sideways glared at the Mech leader. "He always plans ahead." Sideways looked up at me, then Prime. "We have to get those people!"

Bulkhead huffed. "You see? He's still with Mech! He just wants us to let his boss go." Bulkhead glared daggers at Sideways. "Either that, or his old Decepticon instincts are kicking in again."

"That's enough!" Prime bellowed. "Sideways, Kim, the two of you head into the building and start the evacuation. Ironhide, Kup, you provide transport. Arcee, Bulkhead, Bumblebee, Windblade and I will do what we can to get the fire under control. Ratchet, be ready to provide medical help to any wounded humans."

"I don't know much about human physiology, but I'll do what I can."

Prime went back to Silas. "If anyone dies due to that fire, those deaths will be on your head."

Silas gave Prime a half grin. "Like I care. I've killed dozens of people."

I was about to head off with the others when I looked back at Silas. "Don't forget, Colonel, we know who you are now, and what you look like. You won't be able to hide much longer. You'll slip up, and when you do, I'll be waiting."

* * *

When we got to the main complex, people were already streaming out of the burning buildings. I saw my dad ushering people out. I had been riding in Ironhide, and I jumped out of the driver's side door to go to my father.

"Dad!" I shouted.

He looked up at me in surprise. "Kimmie-cub? I thought you were in Nevada!"

I rushed to him and hugged him as hard as I could. "Believe it or not, the guys who did this are the reason I'm working with the government right now." I pulled back and went back to mission mode. "How many people are still inside?"

"I don't know," he said. He wiped the grime from his face. "The explosion came from the central lab, and I have no idea how many people were in there."

I wanted to rush in there, but I didn't have any sort of breathing gear, and my battlesuit could only take so much heat. I looked over at the red pickup I'd been riding in. "You're up, Ironhide!"

The air was filled with the grinding sound of transformation as the red Autobot assumed his robot form. "Scanners are set to human life readings," he said in that Southern drawl of his. Ironhide nodded at my dad. "A pleasure, Dr. Possible," he said. "Professor Rhinox at the Farm would love to pick your brain about some propulsion ideas, I'm sure." With that, Ironhide rushed into the building.

* * *

I wish I could say that everyone got out, but there were twenty seven casualties. Silas was now one shy of one hundred confirmed kills. I swore right then and there that no one else would die at this guy's hands.

The MVFD had come to put out the fire, the police were working with the Unit E reps who had made it to Moffet Field, and I was talking with my dad and the Autobots in one of the hangars. Optimus Prime had a concerned look on his face when he saw my dad. I could understand. My dad had really gone through it.

"Sentient alien machines," Dad finally said. "And you're from what star?"

"You call it Lambda Scorpii," Kup said. "Five hundred and seventy light years away."

"But," Dad stammered, "that's a triple star system! One of those stars is still a protostar, and the other two are supergiants! Your planet couldn't have formed in their stellar lifetimes!"

Optimus let out a chuckle. "Cybertron is a unique world, Dr. Possible. Its current location is not where it first formed. Cybertron has had to move more than once over the eons."

Dad's eyes went wide. "Remarkable! And Kimmie, you're working with them?"

"That's right," Windblade said. She was sitting hunched forward while Ratchet did some quick repairs. "Kim's our new teammate, and our new friend."

"I have to say that I'm very jealous," Dad said.

I would have loved to keep this conversation going, but it was time to get back to work. "Dad, these guys were after something, but they couldn't find it. Do you know what it was?"

He let out a sigh. "The power source for the wormhole drive," he said. "It was originally going to be antimatter, but it's too cost prohibitive to make it. We could have used the matter to antimatter conversion equations that Mathew Matheson devised, but it turned out that he was a super villain, and his work was confiscated."

"The Mathter," I said. "I helped Hego take that guy down my senior year. So there was no antimatter. Maybe that's why Mech took off."

"They knew we didn't have the antimatter," Dad said, shaking his head. "They wanted the real fuel. Because of the difficulties in obtaining antimatter, we developed something else. We made twelve atoms of exotic hydrogen."

"What's exotic hydrogen?" I asked.

Ratchet answered before Dad could. "You mean that you've created exotic matter?"

"Yes," Dad said. "Only twelve atoms worth, like I said. We were going to bring it here, but I didn't trust the containment system. Exotic matter can interact with normal matter without mutual annihilation, unlike antimatter, but after a while, it starts to absorb regular matter and grow. It becomes strange matter, and that could be a problem."

"To say the least," Ratchet agreed. "Optimus, I suggest we bring Rhinox in on this. He knows more about theoretical physics than any of us."

"Agreed," Optimus said. "In the meantime, Dr. Possible, I'm going to recommend to Agent Fowler that you and your family be put into protective custody for the time being." Dad nodded in agreement. He was starting to crash from the adrenaline rush. "I also think it's time we returned to base."

"That'll be a good trick," Bulkhead groaned. "I mean, we're all here, and the half pint back there was supposed to be running the ground bridge!"

"I left Teletraan-1 on automatic, genius," Sideways groaned. To prove his point, he opened a com line back to the _Ark._ "Teletraan-1, open the ground bridge." The swirling green vortex opened up on cue, and Sideways stepped through it. He and I really needed to have a talk.

* * *

Windblade wasn't in the repair bay when I walked in. Instead I saw Kup talking to Ratchet about dust storms and windshield wipers and some kind of weird creatures while the medic worked on Sideways' motorcycle body. "Where's Windblade?"

"Back in her quarters," Ratchet said without looking up. "Hopefully she's powered down. The damage was mostly superficial. The stitch welds will hold while her repair protocols heal her up. She'll be as good as new in no time."

"The kid's tough," Kup said. The older bot smiled. "All you kids are tough."

"And will Sideways be back on his feet soon?" I asked. "Or will it be another situation like his targeting system."

Kup spoke up before Ratchet could answer. "That's still not fixed? I thought you had that done when I came in about," he looked over at me, "my rotator burr."

Ratchet set down his tools and stood up. "Fixing his targeting system is more complicated than I thought. And your burrs are more problematic than you'd like to let on."

Kup took another look in my direction. "You look like the sort who can keep a secret. 'Burr in the rotator' is a code we have."

"Kup here is the only Cybertronian to survive being afflicted with cosmic rust," Ratchet said. "Whenever he mentions a burr in his rotator, I know that he's noticed a new lesion has cropped up. Then I treat it. Cosmic rust is highly contagious, and if the lesion isn't destroyed, it could spread."

That made sense. If I had a potentially life threatening disease, I wouldn't want just anyone to know about it. And I could see why Kup's problem was given priority over Sideways' targeting system.

Ratchet took a seat and leaned back. "Besides, Sideways' systems aren't that easy to work on. In his rider mode, Sideways is basically a walking processor. He's a patchwork of human technology and Cybertronian bio-mech, and I have no idea how it all works together. Not to mention the fact that I haven't been able to map out how his processor shifts around when he transforms."

I was starting to get it. "So when you said repairing the targeting system was a low priority…"

"Exactly. I can't repair it, or replace it. But I might be able to correct it. I believe the phrase humans use is 'eyeglasses.'"

Again I nodded. "So you think you can rig up some sort of corrective device to compensate for the damage?"

Ratchet stood back up. "That's my hope."

* * *

"Who is it?" a voice said after I hit the door chime. Needless to say, Sideways sounded annoyed. But then again, he always did. I was starting to figure out why.

"It's Kim," I said. "Can I come in?" The door slid open to reveal a cavernous chamber with a shelf jutting out of the wall. That was currently unoccupied. Instead, I found Sideways lounging in what looked like a metal recliner. He was staring at a wall sized monitor screen that was showing, big surprise, a poker tournament. "What is your fascination with this?"

"Honestly, I don't know," he said. "Maybe it's all the bluffing."

"And you do a lot of bluffing," I said. I leaned against the wall. "So which is your real name? Cy-Kill or Sideways?"

Sideways let out a groan. "It's Sideways. Silas started calling me Cy-Kill when I was being put back together." Sideways hit a button on his chair and the screen went dark. "This is going to be a long story, Possible. Are you sure you want to hear it?"

"Bring it."

"Okay." He stood up and started to pace around the room. "I was from Kaon. You know, the city the Decepticons got their start in. I wasn't a miner or a gladiator or anything like that. I worked at an energon refinery. When Megatron rose to power, that refinery was one of the first places he conquered, and everyone he didn't slag was conscripted into the Decepticon army. Me included. You either became a 'Con, or you became scrap metal.

"I didn't want to be a 'Con, so I did my best to funnel information to Prime and the Autobots. Then I got caught. I got dragged to Trypticon station and I had to fight off a bunch of Decepticons before they could scrap me. My death was going to be broadcast to the whole planet as an example of what happened to anyone who defied Megatron. I wasn't going to just sit back ans let them kill me, so I fought back. I took a pretty bad blast next to my spark chamber in the struggle, but I was able to get to the stasis pod bay before I bled out. I got in an empty pod, launched it, and its stasis and repair functions kicked in. I was in stasis from the time I left Cybertron until I got here."

"That had to have been a long time ago," I said.

"Over four million of your years," Sideways said. "Long enough for my stasis pod to get covered in a bunch of bunch of space junk, and long enough for me to get here." He trailed off for a moment. "Are you familiar with the Tunguska event?"

I nodded. My dad had told me about it. "A comet that exploded over Tunguska, Siberia on 1908."

"That wasn't a comet. That was me. My pod was covered in a bunch of cometary debris and asteroid chunks. Those exploded, caused a lot of damage to me and the pod, and then I crashed, causing more damage. The pod was a melted mess that looked like a big metal meteor, and my head was demolished. If it wasn't for stasis lock and the life support in the stasis pod, I'd have rejoined the AllSpark right then and there. I sat there, buried in a deep impact crater for over a hundred years."

I stood up straight. "Then Mech found you."

"Yeah" he said. "I was buried pretty deep. And since Tunguska is so out there, no one found me until 2008. Just my luck it was Mech. It took them a while, but they put me back together. And for whatever reason, Silas decided that, because my head was smashed, he may as well turn it into a transforming autonomous unit. I guess I should be grateful for that. And for the fact that Optimus and the others found me before I could get slagged after Silas decided I was a failure. Thank Primus the pod's locator beacon was activated after it was opened and led the Autobots to me. All in all, I've been pretty lucky. I should have died a long, long time ago."

There was something I was confused about. "If your head was smashed, how come you can remember everything, and why is your personality still intact?"

"I have an auxiliary memory server in my chest," he said. "It's a backup in case of cranial trauma. In fact, the Nebulan Headmasters use their chest backups for personality storage when their heads detach."

"So eventually the Autobots found you, liberated you you joined them." I walked over to him. "And because of your Decepticon past, you don't have a symbol."

Sideways shook his head. "Optimus offered, but you saw how Bulkhead acts around me. The Badge of Vector Prime is sacred! It's the face of one of the Thirteen! If Bulkhead was this bent out of shape about me being on the team, imagine the meltdown he'd have if I had a badge."

I nodded. "Let me guess, Windblade was the one who freed you, and the one who stood up for you."

"Yeah." He chuckled. "She's something else, you know?"

I smiled. "I know. As long as she knows you feel that way about her."

"She knows," Sideways said. "We've talked about going back to Caminus after the war and settling down. Maybe becoming sparkmates."

I smiled at that. "Good. There's nothing worse than leaving things unsaid with someone you love." I'd learned that one the hard way. Now that all that was out of the way, it was time to change the subject. "So, what's the deal with you harshing on me so much?"

Sideways sat down again. "I'm, uh, I'm sorry about that. I, uh, I saw a special about you on TV a while back. It wasn't flattering."

I let out a sigh and ran my hand through my hair. "The one hosted by Mac Raker?" Sideways nodded. "Muckraker is more like it! He's a world class slime ball! He tried to get me to sleep with him when he was putting the special together. He said if I didn't, he'd 'leak' so many scandals that my reputation would never recover. Needless to say, I told him to get lost. Now he's ticked off at me because he lost in court when I sued him for slander, and lost in court again when Ron's parents sued him for slandering Ron in that same special."

Sideways looked over at me. "Look, Possible, I'm sorry about that. You didn't deserve all the slag I was throwing your way."

I walked over to him with a smile on my face. "I think I understand you better now," I said. "And I wasn't exactly all that nice when we met during that mission a few nights ago." I held my hand out. "What do you say we start over?"

"Deal." He extended his clawed stump, and I took it. Hopefully after this little spark to heart, Sideways and I would finally get along.

* * *

A little while later, I walked onto the bridge and found Kup drinking a transmission fluid coctail. I smiled at him and climbed up the ladder someone had left there so us humans could get up to the console. I took a seat in front of the teal Autobot.

"So," I said, settling in for a riveting tale, "what was this about dust storms, windshield wipers and yikyaks?"

* * *

 _ **Next Chapter: What were the Decepticons looking for back in Chapter , and how did Mech get synthodrone technology? Find out next time! Plus, Kimmie gets an upgrade.**_


	6. Chapter 6

_**Kim Possible and all related characters are the property of Disney. Transformers and all related characters are the property of Hasbro.**_

 _ **The Transformers used will be a mixture of Generation 1, Beast Wars, the IDW Comics series (which is fantastic, by the way), the Aligned Continuity (The**_ **Prime** _ **and**_ **Robots in Disguise** _ **TV series and the Fall of Cybertron and War for Cybertron video games), and a smattering of**_ **The Unicron Trilogy (Armada, Energon,** _ **and**_ **Cybertron)** _ **and**_ **Animated** _ **.**_

* * *

Spike Witwicky and I were standing in William Fowler's office. The mission in Mountain View California had been two days ago, but we were finally having a briefing about it. After I reported in, Agent Fowler had been called for an emergency meeting in Washington DC about the Mech situation. The news I had brought back wasn't good.

"We were afraid of this," Fowler said. "After Diablo Night, Leland Bishop vanished off the face of the Earth, even before formal charges could be brought against him for opening fire on a civilian target. We just assumed that he knew he stepped in it, and decided to get out of Dodge before we could bring him in."

I only nodded. My name is Kim Possible. I'm a Global Justice Agent on detached assignment with Unit E, and two days ago I learned that the terrorist organization Mech, who I'd been brought in to help stop, had been responsible for the death of my best friend.

A guy named Leland Bishop had developed a weapons platform called Project Damocles, which fired on Bueno Nacho Headquarters, killing Ron in the process. It turned out that Bishop was also Silas, the guy who started Mech in the first place. I almost had him. I almost had justice for Ron, but the bastard got away.

I looked up at Agent Fowler. "Sir, did you know that Bishop and Silas were one in the same?"

"No," Fowler said. I could tell that the answer was weighing heavily on him. "Honestly, we thought that Bishop was part of Mech, not that he started it. We've been looking into Bishop's past dealings, and it looks like Mech started as a black market weapons dealer, and grew from there.

"I wore the uniform," he continued. "I would never have even thought about selling my country out, or killing the citizens we swore to serve." Fowler let out a tired sigh, then rubbed the bridge of his nose. He looked up at me. "This got a whole lot more complicated."

Spike and I closed the door on the way out. The other agent nodded for me to follow him into his office. He closed the door as we walked in. "I've worked for Bill for a long time," Spike said. "I've never seen him like this."

"He was a soldier," I said. "He took his oath seriously, and the idea that other soldiers might be war profiteers…" I trailed off. "It's a lot for him to take."

My thoughts turned to my old teacher Mr. Barkin. He was a Marine, and I know that he'd feel the same way as Agent Fowler. I could see those two getting along, right before they started arguing about the merits of the Army or the Marine Corps.

"There's something else," I added. "Mech's goons all wear masks, meaning they could be anyone. And they were using a synthodrone; one of Drakken's creations."

Spike motioned for me to take a seat. "What are your thoughts on that?"

I was quiet for a moment, trying to marshal my thoughts. "I think there might be Mech moles in Global Justice." I looked up at Spike and saw for the first time how much this was weighing on him. "After Diablo Night, GJ raided all of Drakken's strongholds and confiscated all of his technology. It was all supposed to be locked up, but I fought against some of that technology at Moffet Field!"

Spike pondered that for a moment. "There's no other way they could have gotten it?"

"Unless Mech were the ones who stopped Drakken that night," I said. "I've always believed that Ron had been the one who stopped the Diablos, even if he paid for that victory with his life. But Mech could have gotten there, stopped the Diablos, and stole what tech Drakken had there." I leaned back in my chair. "But there are problems with that hypothesis too. There's no way of knowing if Drakken had the synthodrone schematics at Bueno Nacho Headquarters."

"Not to mention the fact that we haven't seen any other synthodrones, infiltrator type synthodrones like 901," I hid a flinch at that one, "and we haven't seen any of the Hephaestus tech the Diablos were made from."

"Exactly," I agreed. "There are too many questions that we don't have answers for, and we won't know for sure until we get Bishop and his cronies behind bars."

"Yeah," Spike said with a quiet sigh, before standing up. "Anyway, Kim, if you'll excuse me, I need to go and make sure arrangements have been made for your family."

"Thanks, Spike," I said. I know Agent Fowler wasn't too happy about my Dad having seen the Autobots, but he understood. I just wish I was the one who was helping my fam get settled in.

* * *

There were a lot of places I would rather have been, and none of them were my current office. Two days ago, my dad was at the NASA Ames research center at Moffet Field in Mountain View California when Mech came looking for a power source Dad and his colleagues were using for the _Keppler II's_ wormhole drive _._ The Autobots and I fought them off, but it was decided that my family would be coming here to Jasper Nevada for their own safety. They were arriving today.

I had moved from the Witwicky's guest room to a bedroom in a local townhouse yesterday. Mom, Dad and the Tweebs should be getting there about now. But I was on base doing research. Fortunately I had just gotten a link up with my former tech genius Wade Load. He had some information my current boss Agent Fowler, as well as Optimus Prime, wanted.

Instead of a Kimmunicator or the old setup I had in my high school locker, Wade had sent me what he called a Kimputer; a combination of both of those devices. I was looking at a split screen showing Wade on the left side and the image of some sort of rounded coffin looking thing. "So what am I looking at?" I asked him.

Wade took a drink from his Slurpster and launched into his explanation. "I don't really know. It's putting out some weird energy readings, though. Those energy readings were detected coming from Cheyenne Mountain on the night that the Decepticons attacked, and I think they were coming from this thing, whatever it is."

I nodded. And before you ask, no, I didn't tell Wade about the Transformers. Optimus Prime himself contacted Wade, wanting to get him fully up to speed on what exactly was going on. He also wanted to get Wade in touch with a bot named Rhinox at the Farm to talk about upgrading my battlesuit. It sure made things a lot easier with him knowing who I was working with.

"Have you passed this info over to Agent Fowler and Prime?"

"I told them both," he said. "These are only partial readings, so Optimus asked me to see if I can get a full profile so they can look for it. Optimus is hoping that one of the _Ark's_ sky spy satellites can pick it up and lead you guys straight to it." Wade smiled. "I am so envious of you right now! I mean, you've been on a real alien spaceship! With giant shape changing robots!"

I so loved Wade's excitement. It reminded me of Ron's child like wonder. "I've also almost been killed by the bad shape changing alien robots."

"That's why Rhinox and I have been working to upgrade your equipment. The new battlesuit design will incorporate scaled down Cybertronian power cells and micro-processors. Rhinox said it'll be a combination of your original suit, and a Nebulan exo-suit, whatever that is."

"You rock, Wade," I said with a smile. "You and Rhinox." I hadn't met Rhinox yet, or his crew at the Farm. All I knew is that Rhinox was a professor of some sort, his assistant was called the lab rat, for whatever reason, their security guard had major attitude problems, that said security guy got the nod of approval from an Autobot warrior named Grimlock, and they were from a colony world called Animatros. I'd find out more about them in about ninety minutes or so.

I ended the call with Wade and closed the Kimputer. Then I looked around my office. I had started to personalize the space. I had pictures of my 'rents on my desk, as well as graduation pictures of the Tweebs, a picture of Ron's sister Hana, and a pic of Ron taken the month before he died.

I was settling in, even though this was a temporary assignment. The problem was I could see myself staying here. Unit E had wanted me to work with them for a while. I stood up and walked over to the window. I looked out and saw the military personnel running their drills.

Agent Trakker from the MASK division tried recruiting me, and Agent Fowler admitted that I'd been on his shortlist as well. Heck, even Spike Witwicky had wanted to work with me, due in no small part to the fact that Team Possible had saved his father-in-law back in the day. But I was with Global Justice. I joined them in college as a cadet agent, and made full agent right before I graduated.

Unit E was a much different beast. We all worked together, even if we were in different sections or divisions. Global Justice was so compartmentalized it was sometimes like we were all speaking different languages. And don't get me started on accountability! As far as I know, the intel people are still blaming each other for the intelligence breakdown last week that led me here in the first place.

And then there's Will Du. Before me, he was the GJ golden child. He hates the fact that I have a better capture rating than he does, and a higher percentage of finished assignments. I worry about getting the job done, and he worries about his reputation. The problem is, he's good and he knows it.

Spike Witwicky is also good. He's Agent Fowler's second in command, and my de facto mission partner. Working with Du is like a wrestling match, whereas working with Spike is like an easy conversation. Spike is the closest I've come to working with Ron again. He's also become something Will never has. Spike is my friend. Spike's wife Carly and their son Daniel are also my friends. They gave me a place to stay, and they didn't have to do that. I'll always be grateful for that.

As of tonight, though, I'd be staying with my fam at the safe house Agent Fowler arranged. And Optimus has promised a rotation of Autobot guards to make sure Mech doesn't try anything. No one messes with my family. No one.

A knock on the door shook me out of my musing. "Agent Possible," a young woman said when she opened the door. "Your, er, ride is here."

"Thank you," I said. It was time to head out into the Nevada desert and meet the team at the Farm. But first, a change in attire.

* * *

I took Agent Fowler's advice about not wearing my GJ uniform on base. I went into town and discovered that Jasper does indeed have some culture. Hey, in my eyes a Club Banana outlet store still counts. I picked up some nice shirts, a couple of pantsuits, and some clothes appropriate for warmer weather. I changed into one of those outfits; a tank top and shorts. If I was going out into the desert, I was going to be comfortable.

When I got outside, I saw why the junior agent was a little confused. Waiting for me was a beat up looking Ford form the 1950's with a teal paintjob. I smiled, opened the door and climbed in. "Hoping for a captive audience so you can tell me about those petrorabbits, Kup?"

The old Autobot chuckled. The inside of his vehicle mode was night and day different from the outside. On the outside, Kup looked like an old truck that had seen better days, but on the inside he was shiny and new. There was an Autobot symbol on the steering wheel that flashed when he spoke.

"Nope," he said. "I just wanted to thank you for listening to me yammer on the other night. Not many people like my stories."

"It really was no big, Kup. I liked them!" The fact that everything he had to say was brand new to me didn't hurt. And actually, his storytelling method was like my Nana's, so I couldn't help but listen.

Instead of old war stories, Kup told me about Animatros and its inhabitants, and about the bots we were going to meet.

"Animatros was an outpost planet," Kup began. "It was on the far fringes, quite a ways away from the main fighting, so Optimus thought it would be a good place to store some energon reserves. It almost worked, too."

"Let me guess. Megatron found out."

"And he sent a bunch of his guys along with our people on the _Axalon."_ I could imagine Kup shaking his head if he'd been in robot mode. "And they continued the war on that world. Fortunately, there was no intelligent life indigenous to the planet. Just a bunch of animals."

"And also no vehicles to transform into," I said.

Kup chuckled again. "This bunch didn't have vehicle modes to begin with. They all had mechanized beast forms. They were called the progeny of Onyx Prime because of that." I remembered from my Cybertronian history that Onyx Prime was pretty beastlike in appearance and temperament. "Heck, the leader of the expedition was named Onyx, and he eventually took the title of Primal after Animatros was cut off from Cybertron, sort of their own take on the Dynasty of Primes."

"So you eventually met up with the Animatros expedition," I said. "Then what?"

"That was before we met Windblade on Caminus," Kup said. "Anyway, the fighting on Animatros had been going on for a while. There were two ships; the _Axilon_ and a Decepticon ship called the _Darksyde._ Megatron had sent one of his elite fighting units to take our guys out. The Predacons."

"Wait a minute." I went back to my Cybertronian history, and remembered that the Predacons were a race of mechanical monsters that kind of looked like dragons. "I thought the Predacons were extinct."

"Not those lizard bots," Kup explained. "Razorclaw, Tantrum, Divebomb, Headstrong and Rampage were Megatron's elite hunters. And after they underwent the gestalt process and could combine, they became even more dangerous. They followed the _Axalon_ in the _Darksyde,_ and launched an attack after Megatron's moles declared open war. And thus began an outcrop of our civil war; the Beast Wars.

"We didn't even recognize our forces when we got there. They had burned through a lot of their energon, so they reconfigured themselves, downsizing until they were about human size. And they figured out a way of replicating bio-matter to have organic beast forms so they could get energy from food ingestion."

"So then what happened?"

"When we got there, Onyx Primal was dead, and the _Axilon's_ captain, Optronix, was in charge. Optimus Prime put Optronix in command, giving him the title of Primal."

"Optronix Primal," I said. "Interesting."

"He changed his name to Optimus Primal in honor of Optimus Prime." Kup laughed a little. "Prime was really uncomfortable with that."

I smiled, remembering the hero worship I got from my cousin Joss. "I can understand. So, did your team come out on top over the Decepticons?"

"They're still fighting," Kup said. "Primal was of the opinion of, if they kept the Predacons busy, and I don't just mean the five bot strike team; all of the Decepticons on Animatros call themselves Predacons now, just like our guys call themselves Maximals now. Anyway, if the Maximals kept the Predacons busy, it would rob Megatron of some extra troops."

"Maximals? Why did they choose that name?"

"I think it was because of the energy saving upgrades they underwent," Kup replied. "Anyway, Optimus Primal sent three of his guys with us to help out. Rhinox, Rattle, and Dynatron."

"Okay, I have to ask, what kind of a name is Rhinox?"

"He used to turn into a critter called a noxilog. Now he's a rhinoceros, so he kept the name."

I tried not to roll my eyes. "Of course he's a rhino. And is Rattle a snake?"

"A rat," Kup said. "He changed his name to Rattrap. And Dynatron turns into some kind of dinosaur, but he couldn't get a DNA scan to create an organic beast mode, so his is robotic looking. Turns out DNA doesn't survive very well in fossilized remains. Who knew?"

I didn't respond to this. I just let it sink in how weird my life had gotten over the last week. Talking mole rats and super villains were one thing, now I had transforming alien robots, and some of them could, apparently, turn into animals.

Mention of dinosaurs reminded me of the second team of Autobots on Earth who I hadn't met yet. Their leader Grimlock didn't get along too well with Optimus Prime, so he took his team off to who knows where looking for 'Cons to crush.

They used to be called the Lightning Strike Coalition, but were now called the Dinobots. They were more victims of Shockwave's mad science. I still don't know how Shockwave was able to reconfigure Grimlock and his team into robot dinosaurs from all the way on Cybertron sixty million years after the dinosaurs went extinct, but he did. I would have to ask about that.

By the way, I did eventually hear about the petrorabbits, and they weren't nearly as cute sounding as I thought they would be.

* * *

We pulled off the main road and rumbled down a dirt path to what looked like a sea of solar panels stretching off into the distance. I let out a low whistle.

"Impressive, ain't it?" Kup joked. "And all that power is being funneled into anything that doesn't need energon to function. And we're trying to develop as much equipment as we can that doesn't run on energon, not to mention synthetic alternatives."

We pulled up to a large building at the front of the complex. I got out of Kup, and he transformed to his robot mode after I closed the door. We walked up to the brick shaped building in time to see a garage door slide up, and a rhinoceros exit. He came sauntering up to me. He looked like an ordinary rhino to me, with leathery brown hide and horns, but that changed quickly.

His transformation was a lot quieter than his Autobot cousins; all I heard was a light humming and buzzing of gears. The rhino stood up on his hind legs, and they extended, revealing shining green metal thighs over the rhino legs. Creases formed in the skin, which split open and receded over the green metal underneath. When all was said and done, an eight or so foot tall green robot was standing before me. The rhino's forelegs were part of the arms, and his hands looked like they came out of the feet.

The head sat on Rhinox's back, and the lower jaw was the chest plate; the teeth were pointing out and the spot where the tongue would be was gold, as were some accents on Rhinox's head. On his forehead were symbols that looked like a cross between the Autobot symbol and a fox's face. I guess the Maximals changed their symbol when they changed their name

Rhinox extended his four fingered hand to me. "Welcome to the Farm, Agent Possible," he said in a gentle but deep voice.

I smiled and took his hand. "It's Kim, Professor."

"I'll call you Kim if you call me Rhinox."

"Deal," I said with a smile. "So, I hear you have something for me."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," a kind of whiny voice said. It sounded like it had a New York accent. When I looked over I saw a rat. A huge rat about the size of a dog! "The only time we get visitors is when someone wants somethin.'"

He stood up on his hind legs, the body opened up, and the parts with the front legs folded onto his back, the head folded down onto his chest, the hind legs opened and unfolded, revealing brass colored metal underneath. His face was also brass, but the top of his head looked like a silver brain. Gorchy. And he had buckteeth.

"Rattrap, I presume," I said. "When I heard you turned into a rat, I was expecting, you know, a rat! Not an ROUS."

"A what?" Rattrap got in my face. He was a taller than me, but not by much. "Wuzzat a crack?"

"Movie reference," I said. "A rodent of unusual size from _The Princess Bride."_ I smiled. I used to watch that movie a lot with my mom. Maybe when she got to Jasper I'd get to watch it with her again.

Rhinox placed a hand on Rattrap's shoulder. "Back off, Rattrap. Kim's a friend."

"Yeah, sure," Rattrap said, waving me off. Then he went back into the building.

"What's his design flaw?" I asked.

A growling rasping voice answered. "He's vermin, what more must you know?" A shining white, skeletal looking creature that looked like it came from _Jurassic Park_ stalked up to me. He had blood red plates on top of his head and on his hips, and he had four daggers for teeth that jutted out over his jaws; two on the top and two on the bottom. He looked me over with his burning red eyes and snarled.

"Another human," he rasped. "Are you here to supplement Agent Witwicky, or to replace him?"

"Spike's my partner," I said confidently. I looked into those glowing eyes. "You must be Dynatron."

"No longer," the robot dinosaur replied. He crouched, and his forelimbs touched the ground. The forearms extended out into legs, the back legs swung around, and the red plates on the hips opened up into shoulder guards, and the head folded down into a chest plate.

The former Dynatron's mouth was, big surprise, filled with razor sharp teeth. Seriously, what's the deal with robots having teeth? But I digress. He also had something that looked like a glowing monocle over his left eye.

"I was once a Predacon warrior, but I was banished by Predaking for my unwillingness to fight his way and violate my code of honor. When I tried to wrest control of the Maximals from Optimus Primal, he bested me in one on one combat, after which he invited me into the Maximal ranks.

"I also owe a life debt to the Dinobot commander Grimlock. To honor that, I have taken the name Dinobot, and the beast mode of a deinonychus." Dinobot stalked up to me, brandishing the claws on his fingers that had once been his beast mode's toe claws. He was testing me.

"That's right, Kim Possible, I was the enemy. I have the energon of many Maximals on my hands; Maximals I slew on the field of battle. Not to mention the Autobots I wounded and killed on Cybertron before I was upgraded from Decepticon to Predacon. I could just as easily have your blood on my hands as well."

My lips twisted into a snarl. "I don't think so," I growled. "Optimus Prime wouldn't let you on this team if he thought you would backstab us, and I doubt Grimlock would have saved your life for the exact same reason."

Dinobot's snarl turned into a smirk. "I like you, Kim Possible," he said. "You show courage and insight, useful traits in an ally." With that, he transformed back to beast mode and trudged off into the distance, heading back the way Kup and I came.

"Not bad, kid," Kup said approvingly, "Dinobot's not easy to impress."

"What's the deal with him?" I asked.

"He's a warrior," Rhinox said, "He lives by a strict code of honor. He won't kill an unarmed opponent, and he won't endanger innocents caught in the line of fire. Like he said, that's what led to him breaking away from the Preds. Now, let's take a look at your new power suit, shall we?"

* * *

My brothers would have had a field day In Rhinox's lab! Holographic displays, various robotic arms and computer terminals, and a large dome like pod in the center of the room.

"That is the critical recovery chamber," Rhinox said proudly. "We use it for repairs, and to help us generate the bio-matter for our beast modes. The flesh on my superstructure was created from rhino DNA I scanned, and was altered by the CR chamber to handle energon."

I looked at it, and saw my reflection in the smooth surface. "Could this work on an Autobot's systems? Say, Sideways' targeting system?"

Rhinox let out a small groan before taking a seat off to the far side of the lab. "Ratchet asked me about that, but so far, I haven't been able to get a good enough map of Sideways' internal systems. You have to understand that, when we upgraded from Autobot to Maximal, we changed. We evolved. Our bio-mech is a lot different than Kup's, or Windblade's. Actually, we Maximals see ourselves as Autobot descendants rather than as Autobots who have been altered."

Damn. Well, it was worth a try, I guess. I took another look around the cavernous room. The holographic displays showed what I recognized as the molecular structure of nucleon. It looked like the Maximals were on the hunt for what the Decepticons stole, as well. I also saw imagery of Wade's original battlesuit design next to the image of a bulky metal suit.

"On the left is your original suit," Rhinox said, confirming my original thought. "On the right is an exo-suit that was made from the head of an Autobot named Brainstorm. That suit is now worn by a Nebulan named Arcana. And this…" Rhinox flipped a switch, opening a door next to his workstation, "is why you're here."

Inside was a white and black suit with some obvious armor padding, a full helmet, extra armor around my vitals, and enforcing around the joints. Over the left side of the chest plate was an Autobot symbol. My brows furrowed a bit. If I got a badge, then I was going to make damn sure Sideways got one, too!

"The new suit runs on electricity, same as the old," Rhinox said. "But we're using power cells based on Maximal storage batteries. We're using the nano fiber weave your friend Wade devised, and enhancing it with Cybertronian nano-bots. You can deploy preprogrammed weapons from the hands and arms. And from what Spike told us about you, we decided on blades and batons. We've also incorprated your pulse stunner into the gauntlets. You can fire stun pulses, or shock with a touch."

"That ain't the best part!" Rattrap was back now. "It can increase yer strength and agility by a factor o' ten, and the armor can compress and fit under yer regular clothes. Not only that, but I put in energon sniffers, and a full suite o' sensors built into the helmet's visor. Oh, and the helmet can retract."

I was going to have to revise my view of Rattrap. "Spankin,'" I said. "I can't wait to test it out.

No sooner had I said that than the alarm went off.

"Oh great," Rattrap muttered, "you just had to go and open yer yap, didn't ya?"

The communications console blared to life. "Dinobot to Rhinox. A ground bridge has opened ten clicks from our location. I am reading two Decepticon energy signatures and one Predacon. I recommend we take the battle to them!"

"Acknowledged, Dinobot," Rhinox said. "Return to base and we'll use our own ground bridge to get there." Rhinox turned to me and Kup. "Blasted 'Cons and Preds are getting too close to locating this outpost. We have to make sure they don't find it. Kim, suit up." Rhinox went to a wall and pulled off a pair of mean looking guns that looked like they had chains and maces wrapped around the multiple barrels. "It's trampling time!"

* * *

The new suit wasn't form fitting, but it still fit me like a glove. The armor was lightweight, and the enforced joints would increase my agility. This was everything I ever wanted in a battlesuit. Not to mention the fact that the visor of my helmet had a heads up display that showed threat assessments, and the faceplate would block out and filter deadly gasses. Oh yeah, I was loving this new suit.

The Maximal ground bridge looked like a scaled down version of what the Autobots used. It had a smaller range than the Autobot bridge, as well. Space bridge and ground bridge technology was something the Maximals didn't use on Animatros, so it was something they were relearning. Fortunately it was able to jump us to where we needed to go in just a few seconds, cutting down on the advantage the bad guys had on us.

We ran out of the bridge into the middle of the desert. The road stretched off into the distance in both directions, and heat was rippling off the asphalt, making it look like there was standing water shimmering on the pavement.

There was no wind blowing, and that stillness was making me nervous. Fortunately for us there were no cars coming down the road, so we didn't have to worry about civilians. After a moment, I heard something flying overhead.

When I looked up I saw two planes; one I recognized as that lunatic Blitzwing, and something that looked like a World War II bomber. That was the one I was the most worried about. It was huge, and I had no idea who or what it was.

"Autobots and Maximals," a digitized growl said. I looked up and saw the bomber starting to come apart. It slammed into the ground as it finished transforming to robot mode.

He was freaking _HUGE!_ He had barrel shaped forearms that ended in pincer claws, broad shoulders, tree trunk legs, a body like a bunker, and a small head with one glowing red eye. "All who stand against the glory of Megatron shall be destroyed!"

Great, this guy was part of the Megatron Fan Club.

Blitwing transformed and landed beside the other Decpeticon. He was dwarfed by the bomber bot. "Calm yourself, Lugnut," Blitzwing said in his calmer voice. Then his face shifted from blue and calm to purple, big chinned and enraged. "At least until it's time to blow these guys to the scrapyard!"

"Autobots! Maximals!" the Decepticon called Lugnut bellowed. "We know you have a base in the vicinity. Take us there or we will return you to the AllSpark in Lord Megatron's name!"

"Well that's brilliant," Rattrap muttered. "Kill us and we can't tell you anything, can we?" Rattrap shook his head. "Power you got, big guy, but brains, not so much."

While the standoff was going on, I was on my guard. Dinobot, who was also keeping a lookout, had said that there were three energy signals. The two Decepticons he mentioned were right in front of us, but I didn't see the Predacon.

I looked at Dinobot, who narrowed his one visible eye. We were on the same page. Even in robot mode, Dinobot still had a tail. He reached behind himself and pulled that tail off. It straightened and became rigid. Then he grabbed the end of the tail, which had what looked like some kind of claw at the end of it, and pulled. The clawed tip was actually the handle of a serrated sword. The sword blade started to spin, its sharp edges gleaming in the sun. The rest of the tail split down the middle and opened like a flower petal. More blades popped out, and the flayed appendage started spinning like a rotor blade.

"Spankin," I said. I had to admit, I liked Dinobot's weaponry.

"Tell the traitor to stand down!" Blitzwing's angry voice bellowed.

Everyone looked at each other. Then it all happened at once. Rhinox pulled his chain guns of doom, Rattrap pulled a blaster from his back, Kup's blasters deployed from his forearms, and swords popped out of my gautlets.

As one we all charged. Dinobot's monocle shot out concentrated beams of red light that exploded on contact with the enemy. Kup's blasts were bullseyes, hitting both Lugnut and Blitzwing in the arms before they could attack, and Rhinox and Rattrap focused on their legs, trying to cut them off at the knees.

I was still looking for the Predacon. I heard him before I saw him. There was a loud buzzing, like a fly on steroids. I set my scanners on full, trying to pinpoint where the sound was coming from. I set my sensors to known Predacon life signals, grateful that the Maximals had programmed all of that information into my suit. The HUD In my visor directed me to the left, and then twenty feet away from the battle.

I looked up in time to see Dinobot leap at Lugnut and slash at him with that spinning sword of his. The guys had this covered. The Pred was all mine.

As I ran I tried to make sense out of this attack. Something seemed off about this. Two Decepticons, neither of them among Megatron's inner circle, and an as yet unknown Predacon had gotten us away from the Farm. Why? They said they were looking for our base, but something just wasn't clicking in my brain.

I tapped the side of my helmet. "Possible to _Ark!"_

"Sideways here," a gruff voice replied. "As you like to say, what's the sitch?"

Ever since I had a spark to heart with the Headmaster, Sideways and I were almost acting like friends. "We've been lured away from the Farm by a pair of 'Cons!" I said. "And there's a Predacon around here somewhere. But something seems off here, 'Ways. I need you to send someone to the Farm. This smells trappish."

"You got it, Kim!" Sideways replied. "I'm on my way with 'Blade! We're going to bridge directly to the Farm."

I closed the comm channel. That was one less thing to worry about. Now I just had to find the Predacon. Unfortunately, he found me first. The buzzing got louder, and when I looked up, I saw something that made me freeze in my tracks.

"B-b-b-bug," I stammered. "A gi… a giant bug."

Hovering five feet away from me was a wasp the size of a Roth SL Coup! I couldn't move. I thought I had gotten over this giant bug phobia after the Roachie sitch, but my body wouldn't listen to what my brain told it to do.

The wasp drew closer, and then it started to laugh. In a high pitched voice it said, "Fleshy Bot afraid of Wazzzpinator. Good! Fleshy Bot should be afraid of Wazzzpinator!"

This was the Predacon. It had to be! But all I could see was the giant bug. _Come on, Possible!_ I said to myself. _Don't let the fear beat you. Ron was afraid all the time, but he could still act. He could run away, and he could bumble into saving the day. You. Have. To move!_

Thinking about Ron and his fears sometimes helped, but not this time. _Dammit, Kim! Remember how terrified of monkeys Ron was? That didn't stop him from going between those monkey idols, or facing down Monkey Fist. This isn't a real bug! It's a robot in disguise! You can do this._

But I couldn't move. The bug started laughing even more. "Zzzince Fleshy bot izzz too afraid to move, Wazzzpinator will put it out of its mizzzery."

"Possible! Get down!"

That growling rasp cut through my fear and I dropped to the sandy ground. When I looked up I saw a beam of red light lance into the wasp and explode, sending the bug flying back. When I pulled myself to my feet I saw Dinobot bounding up to me.

"Thanks for the save," I panted.

"What was wrong with you?!" he snarled. "A warrior does not let fear paralyze her in the heat of battle!"

"I have a problem with giant bugs, okay?! Back off!"

Dinobot's wry grin came back. "Hold onto that fire, Kim Possible, and use it against our foe."

I looked back over at the bug. Its head had split down the middle and opened up, arms had unfolded from underneath its body, parts of the thorax had split off into thighs, and a pair of legs unfolded from them.

Its head was still bug like in appearance, with mandibles, antennae and large eyes, but I could see it as the robot it really was. The fear was broken. It was showtime.

"Fleshy Bot's not afraid of Waspinator anymore," I said in a mocking voice. "Bring it."

"Do not underestimate the bug," Dinobot warned. "He is a fool, but he is still dangerous."

As if to prove Dinobot's point, Waspinator pulled a gun that shot explosive stingers. I dived off to the side and went into a roll. When I got back on my feet I had extended an electrified blade form my gauntlet. I risked a glance to the side to see Dinobot waiting in the wings. He was testing me again, waiting to see how I would handle myself in combat. He was starting to remind me of my first martial arts instructor.

I ran at Waspinator before he could get a bead on me again, extending the blade on my other gauntlet as I went. I leaped towards him, slashing at him with my left arm. I wanted Waspinator to dodge to his left so I could nail him, but instead he took flight, transforming back to beast mode.

"Fleshy Bot will fear Wazzzpinator again!"

My heart was pounding, and not from the exertion. The sight of a giant wasp, even if I knew in my mind that it was a Predacon, was still getting to me. _Don't think like you_ , I said to myself. _Think like Ron. Remember Roachie._ As if on its own, my hand went over my heart.

On my eighteenth birthday I had gotten the words "Never Be Normal" tattooed over my heart. I remember that the artist initially didn't want to do it until I explained to her that this was a memorial piece. Then she was more than happy to draw the design and ink it into my skin.

I remembered those words, and I remembered the way Ron fought his fears on an almost hourly basis. My eyes narrowed, and instead of the bug, I saw the bot. I energized my gauntlet blades.

"Dinobot!" I shouted. "I need a boost!"

"Gladly," he rasped In reply.

I ran at Dinobot and planted my foot in his waiting hands. He flung me up at Waspinator like a missile.

"What izzz Fleshy Bot doing?"

"Cutting you down to size!"

I extended my arms forward, slashing through the Pred's wings. He hung in midair almost like a cartoon character until he realized his wings were fluttering to the desert floor.

"Oh no," he said right as he plummeted to the ground.

My own descent was slowed by periodic blasts from booster jets on my back. I landed like a feather.

Waspinator transformed and pulled himself to his feet. "Wazzzpinator may be grounded," he said, pulling is gun, "but Wazzzpinator zzztill hazzz hizzz zzzting!"

A blast from Dinobot's eye beam destroyed the gun in Waspinator's hands, and I hit him with my stun beams. They weren't strong enough to knock him out, but they staggered Waspinator long enough for Dinobot to come in and rip the Pred to pieces.

"Zzztazzzzis… lock.. enabled," Waspinator said as his eyes went dark.

Dinobot smiled at me. "He will be salvaged and repaired, but for now he is out of our way. Come, Kim Possible, let us rejoin the main battle!"

* * *

Rhinox and the others may have had the Decepticons outnumbered, but the 'Cons had out guys completely on the ropes. Lugnut was a walking armory, sending missiles and laser blasts flying in every direction. Add that to the unpredictability of Blitzwings mood swings, and you had a really bad sitch for the good guys.

Rattrap saw Dinobot and I coming back to the fight. "Where the Pit were you two? Off havin' a picnic?!"

"We were taking care of a bug problem," I said.

"Waspinator is off to the west, Vermin," Dinobot said. "If you hurry, you can add to your Pred parts collection before he is salvaged."

"I didn't know you cared, Chopperface," the rat said, mocking wiping a tear from his eyes.

"I don't! I merely wished to avoid you whining about not being able to obtain any new pieces of the bug."

"Heads In the game, you two," I said. "We still have Decepticons to take care of."

Kup and Rhinox were concentrating on Lugnut, and taking potshots at Blitzwing when they could. Unfortunately, Blitzy had landed more hits on them than they had on him.

Distance attacks could work, but then we'd make ourselves targets. That would take the heat off of Rhinox and Kup, but then they'd be on their own against Lugnut.

Rhinox was running past the Decpeticon, showering him with machine gun fire as he went, while Kup alternated between robot and vehicle modes. He'd stand and fight, transform, drive off a little ways, then transform again and resume fire. Unfortunately, Lugnut's armor was too thick and his armaments too plentiful for that to do any good.

I looked back over at Blitzwing. We had to take him out so we could all gang up on Lugnut. "Too bad we don't have any high explosives," I said to myself, thinking that it would be easy enough to sneak up behind Blitzwing and plant a bomb on that turret on his back.

"Who said we don't?" Rattrap opened his left forearm and pull out a square shaped device from the compartment. "One high yield det-pack, made to order!"

I couldn't hide my grin. I took the bomb from Rattrap and looked up at him and Dinobot. "New plan. You two keep Blitz-brain busy, and I'll give him a surprise he'll never forget."

No one nodded or said anything. They just attacked. Dinobot charged with his sword drawn while Rattrap made strafing runs against the triplechanger. I ran a wide circle around them, staying out of Blitzwing's line of sight. When I got behind him, I hit the timer for the det-pack, used the suit to enhance my jumping ability, and flew towards Blitzwing's turret, planting the bomb. Then I ran like hell.

"Fire in the hole!" I shouted.

"Wha-?" Blitzwing tried to look behind him, but his gun barrel got in the way. "Oh scrap." No sooner did he say it then the bomb exploded, almost turning him into exactly that.

Lugnut stopped dancing with the guys in time to see his friend go face (or is that faces?) first into the ground. Then he turned that single glowing eye on me. "Human germ!"

Lugnut's claw retracted into his forearm and a red primer extended out, making his fist look like a giant bomb. Panels on the back of his elbow opened, and a spray of orange flame erupted from the elbow joint, propelling that enormous club down to the ground. When it hit the road, a wall of solid thunder slammed into my face, and then everything went black. The last thing I remember, or think I remember, was a weak sounding Blitzwing admonishing his teammate.

"If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times to warn me before you use The Punch!"

* * *

"Kim? Kim? You okay?"

When I opened my eyes I was back at the Farm. I was still in my power suit, but the helmet had been retracted and the armor had been deactivated. The suit was now more like cotton than metal. All I had to do was press the Autobot symbol on my chest to turn it back into a hardened shell.

I was about to sit up when I felt a metal hand gently nudge me back to a laying down position. "Don't move too much," Sideways said. "You just got hit by the Punch of Kill Everything!"

"It didn't live up to its name," I groaned. "I'm still here, not that I'm complaining. How are the others?"

This time it was Windblade who spoke up. "Rhinox is in the CR chamber, and Dinobot and Rattrap are waiting their turns. Kup already bridged back to the _Ark_ for repairs. We didn't want to move you until you regained consciousness."

I closed my eyes. "Were there any Decepticons here?"

"We saw Laserbeak, one of Soundwave's cronies, trying to find the Farm," Sideways said. "We picked up his life signal before we left the base and bridged to where Laserbeak was flying. 'Blade shot him out of the sky. We made sure no one else was skulking around and then we came to find you."

"The bad guys were gone by the time we got there," Windblade added. "How do you feel?"

"Lousy," I said. "Nothing a trip to the infirmary won't fix, though."

* * *

Thankfully I didn't have a concussion. Now whether that was due to the helmet or my own hard head, I didn't know. All I did know was, despite the power suit, I hurt. I was going to be a mass of bruises in the morning, if I wasn't already.

When I got back to Unit E Headquarters I had a message from Spike that my family was settled into the townhouse and that Bulkhead was keeping watch in case Mech tried anything. I really wanted to be there with them, but I would be there later tonight. I shot off a quick text message to my mom, sat down at my desk in my office, and closed my eyes for a moment.

Before I could get too comfortable, though, my Autobot communicator went off. "No rest for the weary," I groaned before putting my earpiece in. "Possible," I said.

"Kim, this is Optimus," the voice on the other end of the line said. "I'm sending Arcee to get you. We may have a development on the energy signature Wade was looking into."

I was in mission mode before Optimus finished his sentence. "I'll be ready when she gets here."

* * *

A giant hologram of that same coffin looking was floating in the middle of the _Ark's_ bridge, next to a hologram of Wade. Sideways walked up to it and let out the closest thing to a whistle I had ever heard come from a Cybertronian.

"That is one ancient looking stasis pod," Sideways said.

"Third generation pod," Kup added. "Those were in use when Sentinel Prime was running things. Unless I'm mistaken, he had some on the _Xanthium_ when that mission he was on went to the Pit and all off world travel was curtailed."

I looked over at Wade. "Do we know what's so special about this pod?"

Optimus spoke up. "It's not the pod, it's what's coming from the pod. Specifically, the anomalous energy signature Megatron's been tracking. That pod is what he's looking for."

"I still haven't gotten a full reading," Wade reported, "but Optimus has taken what snippets I've found and has compared them to what's in Teletraan-1's database. He's a better hacker than I am."

"I was an archivist for a long time, Wade," Optimus said in a soft voice. "I learned a lot about how and where sensitive information was stored. And when it came to hiding information, the two Primes who came before me were experts at it."

Prime's fingers worked the controls like they were a musical instrument, bringing up a representation of the energy signal Wade had been tracking. It was fragmented. "This is what Wade found," Optimus said. "And this is what I've managed to match it to." Another pattern, a full one this time, appeared below the fragments. The two patterns arranged and, in some places overlapped.

"So what is it?" I asked.

Prime pressed one more button. "This."

I black orb appeared before us. It was circled by a meandering gold band that was inscribed with some kind of writing, and there were deep oval shaped pits that glowed bright red.

"By the AllSpark," Ratchet gasped. Whenever the medic said that, it was never good. "Is that what I think it is?"

"I'm afraid so," Optimus replied. "This artifact entered the Cybertronian system some nine million stellar cycles ago. It was tracked by Starstream and Jetfire from Trypticon station, and was recovered by Sentinel Prime's Elite Guard. All we know about it is the fact that, according to its trajectory, it came from a region of space that we call the Vok Nebula, and that it puts out a lot of energy."

Kup stepped up to the image. "After Sentinel Prime's expedition was lost, the orb was locked away in the Iacon Vaults. How did it get here?"

"According to what I found, it was never locked away," Prime said. "That stasis pod was, and in the waning days of Sentinel's administration, the pod was fired out into space. Like Sideways, this pod found its way to Earth. Somehow the artifact's energies were transferred to the pod."

"And now Megatron wants it," I said. "So not good."

Optimus enlarged the image of the orb and took a closer look at that writing. "Those glyphs," he said almost to himself. "They look like Primacron, the lost language of the Thirteen Primes."

Ratchet and Ironhide turned to their leader. "Can you read it?" Ironhide asked.

"I think so. All I can make out are the words TransMetal Driver, and a name." Optimus enlarged the image even more. "This is the work of one of the Thirteen. This was created by Quintus Prime."

Before I could ask what that meant, an alarm from Wade went off. "Kim, I don't believe this, but we just got a hit on your old website!"

"Not possible," I said. "I had you take the site down after Ron died."

"I know! I did!" Wade got to typing, and then he got to swearing. It was a good thing Wade's mom wasn't there, because she would have washed his mouth out with soap! "Silas hacked me again! And he left you a message. It's a set of coordinates to an abandoned automotive assembly plant in Lowerton."

Wade's fingers typed faster, and he used the link he had to Teletraan-1 to maneuver a sky spy satellite into position. He brought up the old Roth Motors plant, and then activated the sky spy's x-ray function. There was a series of tunnels and rooms beneath the old plant. Silas was showing me where one of his hiding places was.

"You know this is a trap," Windblade said.

"I know," I said. I was fighting with myself. I wanted to rip Silas apart for what he did to Ron, but that's what Mech's leader was counting on. So I turned and looked at Optimus Prime. "I need help," I said to him. "Silas wants me to run in there with guns blazing, and I can't do that. I need a plan."

"Then it's a good thing I have one."

* * *

 _ **Next Time: Kim vs the new and improved Circuit Breaker!**_


	7. Chapter 7

_**Kim Possible and all related characters are the property of Disney. Transformers and all related characters are the property of Hasbro.**_

 _ **The Transformers used will be a mixture of Generation 1, Beast Wars, the IDW Comics series (which is fantastic, by the way), the Aligned Continuity (The**_ **Prime** _ **and**_ **Robots in Disguise** _ **TV series and the Fall of Cybertron and War for Cybertron video games), and a smattering of**_ **The Unicron Trilogy (Armada, Energon,** _ **and**_ **Cybertron)** _ **and**_ **Animated** _ **.**_

* * *

"Silas, you've got some 'splainin' to do!" I had kicked in the door to the Roth Motors plant, and ran almost heedlessly through the place until I found the entrance to the underground facility Mech had set up; a Mech base in Lowerton, just twenty minutes away from where I grew up. This could have been the place where Silas, Mech's leader, ordered the Damocles orbital weapons platform to open fire on Bueno Nacho Headquarters and kill Ron. That rage made me run faster.

The halls were dimly lit and the floors and walls were gunmetal grey. My footfalls echoed up and down those halls while I ran, breaking the silence in the seemingly abandoned base.

"Come on, Silas!" I shouted, my voice bouncing off the metal walls around me. "You wanted me here, remember? Well here I am! Come on out and say hello!" I came to a stop at the intersection of four hallways. "Are you afraid of me? After what you did to my friend - my _**BEST FRIEND**_ \- you'd better be afraid!" The trim of my battlesuit lit up, painting the walls with a faint glow. "You took the most important person in my life away from me. Now you're going to pay for it."

A faint crackle filled the air, followed by Silas' condescending voice. "Well, well, well. You actually showed up. And here I thought you'd be smarter than this."

I looked around the hall, trying to find the speakers the voice was coming from. "You're the one who invited me, remember?"

"Yes," came the reply, "but I wasn't sure you would be stupid enough to come in without backup."

I looked down at myself. I was wearing my battlesuit, not my Autobot/Maximal built power suit. Then I thought about how I had Wade arrange a ride for me to get here from Jasper Nevada to Lowerton Colorado instead of me taking the ground bridge.

"To be honest, I did know this was a trap," I said. "And Optimus Prime did have a plan. But it was a stupid plan! He wanted me to wait and see what you idiots were going to do! But you know what? I've waited long enough to get justice for Ron." I clenched my hands into fists. "So I decided to just come here on my own and beat you senseless. So stop hiding and come get what's coming to you!"

I was half expecting Silas to start chuckling or laughing like one of the super villains I used to face on a weekly basis. He didn't. "I don't think so," he said. "I brought you here for two reasons, Agent Possible; to reintroduce you to an old friend, and then to get rid of you. You see, you've been getting dangerously close to many of my operations for a while now, and I don't want you blabbing to Dr. Director that I might have some of my people in her organization. It's nothing personal."

I narrowed my eyes. "Old friend?"

"Oh yes," Silas replied. A door on the far side of the hall opened, and out stepped a thin man in a green battlesuit and an exoskeleton. "But first, allow me to introduce the new and improved Project Circuit Breaker."

I got in a low fighting stance, and my battlesuit started to glow brighter. Last time I faced Circuit Breaker, it was a three part combat system consisting of a synthodrone, one of Wade's battlesuits, and a strength enhancing exosuit. The last time I fought one of these things, it was a tough fight. I had to short out the exoskeleton, and then stabbed the drone in the head. I seriously doubt this Circuit Breaker would be any easier.

"So," I said, "Circuit Breaker 2.0. Really, Silas? Don't you have any original ideas?" But Silas didn't answer. The only sound was Circuit Breaker's heavy footfalls as he (it?) approached me. He lumbered towards me, and it looked like he was struggling against his own movements. That's when I saw exactly how skinny this Circuit Breaker was as opposed to the one I fought back at Moffet Field.

I didn't want to fight this thing. I wanted to find Silas and feed him his own spine! "You know," I said, "I really have much better things to do than play with Mech's toys. So why don't we pretend that I sent you to the scrap heap like I did your predecessor."

I was about to take off down the hall when the ground under my feet exploded, sending me flying into the wall. My right shoulder slammed against the metal, sending jolts of pain through my body. I bounced off the wall and landed in a heap on the floor, three feet away from the smoldering hole where I had been standing.

"Hey, Kimmie! Long time no see."

That was a voice I hadn't heard in six years; a voice I hadn't even heard in my dreams! She couldn't be here! She died in the same explosion that killed Ron. But there she was in all her glory. Shego was standing over me, wearing a Mech uniform and brandishing some kind of plasma rifle; a rifle that was smoking. Shego never used guns, so this couldn't be her.

"I guess Mech finally decided to break out the infiltrator synthodrones," I said as I pulled myself to my feet.

"No goop sack here, Princess," the Shego thing taunted. "I'm the real deal. I'm the old friend Silas mentioned, and I'm here to make sure you don't stand up poor Circuit Breaker here. He's been so looking forward to seeing you."

Circuit Breaker took another heavy, shambling step towards me. He was wearing a different mask than the last one did. The first Circuit Breaker wore the same kind of mask that Mech's normal troops wore. This one was more like a hood that fit tightly around the top of the head and the eyes, but flared out from the nose down to where the hood ended at the chest, and instead of goggles it had a visor that ran from ear to ear. He'd have perfect peripheral vision.

"I don't have time for this," I grunted.

"I beg to differ, Kimmie," Shego said in a taunting voice. "You have nothing but time!"

Circuit Breaker charged at me, and he moved a lot faster than I thought he could have with that exoskeleton! I dodged right before he kicked my head off.

Shego, meanwhile, wasn't doing anything but laugh at me. "The real Shego wouldn't waste a chance to take me down!" I shouted. "And she didn't use guns, either!" I blocked a series of punches to the face and kicked at Circuit Breaker's chest plate. "She didn't need one!" I hadn't seen Shego throw a single plasma burst since she showed up. She hadn't even made her hands glow. There was no way this was the real Shego.

Shego growled and looked like she was about to lunge at me, but stopped. "I don't have to explain myself to you."

"Says the woman who's been gone for six years. How do I know you are who you say you are?"

Shego didn't answer, even though it looked like she so wanted to. So I turned most of my attention to Circuit Breaker. Like the last one, this Circuit Breaker was using monkey kung-fu, but this one was a lot better than the last one. He also looked like he was fighting himself. He would take halting, shaky steps, and sometimes he wouldn't follow through on a punch. It was so weird!

"Hey!" Shego yelled. "Robot boy! You know what'll happen if you don't stop fighting us and start fighting her! I could do it better myself!"

"Then why don't you?" I asked with a smirk. "Afraid I've gotten better than you since you've been on vacation?"

Shego growled and started to stalk up to me. But then she went stiff and winced. "I don't need to prove anything to you," she said through gritted teeth. None of this was making sense. "You've gotten sloppy, you know that, Princess?" she forced herself to say. "Back in the day you wouldn't have come in here without backup!"

At that moment, I started to hear a beeping in my right ear. I tapped the earpiece, acknowledging the signal. I looked at Shego and gave her a devil-may-care smile. "Who says I did?"

I put my hand over the left side of my chest, and my battlesuit faded, revealing my power suit. The Autobot symbol started to glow as the armor activated, bulking up around my torso and my vital areas. Extra plating on my shoulders unfolded and extended around my head. A visor slid down over my eyes, and the faceplate closed over my nose and mouth.

No sooner did my armor come on line than the ground bridge opened, allowing a blue motorcycle to come shooting out, followed by a white, red and black robot deinonychus. The dinosaur shouted the word "Maximize!" before transforming into robot mode.

Circuit Breaker barely moved, but Shego backed up. "What the hell?"

"Yeah, what I told Silas about ignoring Optimus' plan and coming here alone? I lied!"

* * *

Let's go back in time about two hours. I had just gotten the invitation from Silas.

"You know this is a trap," my friend Windblade pointed out.

"I know," I said. It had to be a trap. Silas wanted to take me out for some reason, and I needed to know what that reason was. But I couldn't just walk into this blindly. That was the best way to get myself killed. So I looked to Optimus Prime. "I need help. Silas wants me to run in there with guns blazing, and I can't do that. I need a plan."

"Then it's a good thing I have one." Prime immediately went into mission mode. "Ratchet, can we ground bridge into that facility?"

The field medic was anticipating his leader's request, and had already punched in the coordinates. "Negative. There seems to be some kind of scrambler field in place that makes it impossible for us to lock on with the ground bridge." He tried a few more controls. "And it's masking its own energy signatures."

"So we don't know what kinds of defenses Mech has waiting for us," Optimus said. "It would be safe to assume that they could detect our ground bridge when we arrive, which means if we bridged in outside the plant, they would detect us. We could bridge in a few miles away from the base and drive in the rest of the way, but they could still detect us. We'll have to err on the side of caution and not use the ground bridge."

I nodded In agreement. "So we do this old school. Wade, I need a ride to Lowerton."

"I've already got one lined up," my old tech guru said. "But I don't see how this is going to help any. I mean, you know Mech has something nasty planned for you, and you won't be able to bring along any reinforcements!"

I thought about that for a minute, trying to figure out how to get in there and leave without getting my own ticket punched. Then I looked down at my power suit. "What about the sensors built into the suit?" I asked. "If I was able to get into the base, could we use the power suit's sensors to analyze and cut through the interference?"

Both Wade and Ratchet went to work on that almost at the same time. "I think so," Wade said.

"That is assuming that Mech doesn't detect your power suit before you get there," Ratchet added. "And since they've been so desperate to get their hands on more of our tech, you'd be in even greater danger."

"And before you ask, no, the battlesuit's sensors wouldn't be able to do it," Wade said.

This time it was Arcee who stepped up. "So why don't we disguise the power suit? Kim runs only the sensors, which wouldn't set off any alarms, and run the strength and agility enhancements at the same levels as her battlesuit?"

"And use a holomatter outer shell to disguise it!" Sideways said. "That would be perfect!"

Holomatter was a kind of holographic projection the Autobots used to simulate drivers when they were in populated areas so it didn't look like they were vehicles driving themselves. And the holograms were solid until they were turned off. A holomatter shell over the power suit, making it look like the battlesuit Mech had already seen, would be the perfect disguise.

"After the power suit decodes the scrambler field and we're able to ground bridge in," Optimus said, "then we'll send reinforcements."

"The underground might be a little cramped," I said. I looked over at the assembled Autobots. "Arcee will be able to fit in the hallways. And I'll want Dinobot there too."

Arcee nodded. "We'll have your back, Kim."

"And I'll be outside the base with Bumblebee, Ironhide and Sideways, and some of Spike's people. Windblade will be on standby in case we need air support." Everyone was standing at attention and had serious looks on their faces. "We all know what we need to do, Autobots, so let's do it. Roll out!"

* * *

And now that we're all up to speed, let's get back to the present. I was in my fully activated power suit, I had Arcee and Dinobot ready to break loose, and Shego, if that's who she really was, looked like she was about to wet her pants. The gloves were now off! Shego backed up a few steps, and her mouth was moving, but no sounds were coming out.

"Meet my backup," I said with a smug tone. To emphasize what I said, Arcee deployed her arm blasters and Dinobot pulled out his sword and tail blade. "So you have a choice: surrender or get taken apart!"

Shego pointed her cannon at me and fired. My suit's shields sprang to life, absorbing the blasts and shunting the energy to my weapons systems. My blades popped out from my gauntlets and were crackling with the energy blast Shego had just sent at me. "Wrong answer," I said.

"Circuit Breaker, get her!" With that, Shego took off down the hall. Dinobot shrieked out a war cry, transformed to beast mode, and took off after her. Arcee was about to go after Circuit Breaker, but I stopped her.

"I can handle this guy," I said. "I need you to get to the control center and hack into Mech's systems!"

Arcee nodded, transformed to motorcycle mode, and raced off down the corridor. Now it was just me and Circuit Breaker.

"Okay, let's dance!"

Circuit Breaker came at me with a leg sweep that I easily dodged. He could fight, but didn't have a lot of creativity in combat, almost like he was just going through preprogrammed motions. For all I knew, that was exactly what he was doing. All I could do was hope that, without someone here to pull the puppet's strings, Circuit Breaker would be easy to take apart.

Circuit Breaker came after me again, this time making attacks that Master Sensei from Yamanuchi would be proud of! Okay, I had spoken too soon about him being unimaginative. Whatever updates they gave this thing were good! But I had some upgrades too. It was time I used them to find a weak spot. I blocked every punch and kick then I did a backflip, getting out of Circuit Breaker's reach. When I could take a breath, I activated the suit's scanners.

A heads up display on my visor showed an image of Circuit Breaker, giving me a detailed view of the Mech trooper's systems. What I saw shocked me. The exoskeleton and the battlesuit were right, but there was no synthodrone. There was a human being wearing that getup! This had just gotten a lot harder.

"I don't know who you are," I said, trying to be as gentle as possible. "But I don't want to fight you." To prove my point I retracted my blades and my helmet. I held my hand out. "I'm not your enemy."

I heard the man under the hood trying to speak. He was trying to say something that started with either a hard "C" or a "K," but he couldn't seem to get it out.

I took a small step forward. "If you're In trouble, I can help you."

"K-K-Kim?"

"Yes! I'm Kim," I said.

"Real? Not s-syn-synthodrone?"

Why would he think I'm a synthodrone? "I'm real," I said. "And I want to help you. Please let me."

Circuit Breaker screamed in pain and attacked again. He unleashed a flurry of kicks and punches. I couldn't block them all, and a hard punch landed across my jaw, making my vision explode in a universe of stars. I fell to the floor in a dazed heap.

Circuit Breaker reached for my throat, but suddenly stopped. Then he staggered back, clutching at his head. He screamed again, falling to his knees. "HELP ME!"

I struggled to my feet and cautiously approached Circuit Breaker. "What's wrong?"

"C-c-c-compliance band… around head…"

My helmet redeployed and my scanners reactivated. I zoomed in on Circuit Breaker's hood. There was a circular band going around his head. "Can I take this off without hurting you?" Circuit Breaker didn't respond. He fell over on his side and went into the fetal position. I had no choice. I had to get that thing off of him.

With my defenses on full, just in case this was a trap, I went to Circuit Breaker's side and pulled off the hood. A face with sunken in cheeks and tightly closed eyes was revealed. His head was topped with a long mess of oily hair, and a lumberjack like beard flared from his jaw and hung down to his chest. And around his head was a glowing metal band. The compliance band. It sounded way too much like Dr. Bortel's old compliance chips for my taste.

I slowly and carefully lifted the band off of Circuit Breaker's head. He started to sob uncontrollably as soon as the band was off. He grabbed onto me like a drowning man would a life preserver. I held him and let him cry.

"Arcee to Possible," I heard in my ear.

"What's the sitch, Arcee?"

"I'm on my way back to you," she said. "There are no other Mech personnel here, and we have control of the installation. I've even managed to take control of the base's scrambler field to keep Silas out of his own systems."

"Good deal, Arcee," I said. "Circuit Breaker's down, but he's going to need medical attention. I think he was one of Mech's victims. As soon as you get here, I'll head off to see how much trouble Dinobot's having with Shego." If that was really her, that is.

* * *

"Get this thing off of me!"

I could hear that shriek all the way on the other side of the base. Right after Arcee got there I took off in the direction I last saw Dinobot heading. I followed those screams, as well as the bangs and booms that sounded like the blaster fire from the Maximal's laser monocle. From the sounds of things, I didn't need to hurry.

"Call him off, Kimmie!" Shego yelled when I got there. She had her back against the wall and was being stared down by Dinobot. The Maximal warrior was standing there with his arms folded across his chest and his tail leisurely waving. He fired periodic energy blasts whenever Shego tried to move.

Dinobot let out a bored snarl. "I am disappointed, Kim Possible," he said. "The Shego I read about was an accomplished mercenary and warrior. This person is a pale imitation."

"Kimmie! I swear to God if you don't call this thing off…"

"You'll what?" I taunted. "You haven't used your powers once since you showed up! How do we even know you're the real thing?" My curiosity got the better of me and I activated my scanners. What I saw shocked me.

The woman's body was putting out a lot of energy, but that energy was being soaked up by thousands of microscopic machines that were circulating through her bloodstream. "My God. What did they do to you?" I asked.

"It's a long story," she said in a shaky voice. "Not like it matters now. As soon as I walk out of here, I'm a dead woman. Silas will trigger the self destruct in all the little bombs I have in my bloodstream that are soaking up my comet power."

All I could do was grin. "Not gonna happen. This place is under our control now, and we made it so no radio signals go in or out if we don't want them to. In other words…" I pulled out a pair of high tech handcuffs, "you're under arrest."

* * *

When I got back to where I left Arcee and Circuit Breaker, Spike and some other Unit E troops were there, including medical staff, who had ground bridged over with Optimus Prime and Bumblebee. When Spike looked up and saw me, he had a shaken look on his face, like he'd just seen a ghost. "Kim, you'd better come over here."

His tone of voice made me nervous. "What is it? Is Circuit Breaker okay?"

"Not really," Spike replied. "But you really need to see this."

I walked over slowly, waiting for one of the medical staff, a nurse named June Darby, to finish strapping Circuit Breaker down to the gurney and making sure the IV's were stable.

Circuit Breaker looked up at me with defeated, sunken in eyes. "You're real?" he asked again. His voice was hoarse from all the screaming, but it sounded familiar. And those eyes… they were staring right into my soul.

I took Circuit Breaker's large hand and held it gently. "I'm real. I'm not a synthodrone."

"But your hair… It was always so long and flippy, KP."

I sucked in a breath and my legs threatened to come out from under me. My eyes went to the man's sunken, skeletal cheeks and saw the triangular patterns of three freckles on each one. I saw the large ears jutting out from that mess of tangled hair, and I saw, for the first time, the deep brown color of those eyes. I released his hand and stumbled back into Spike.

"Oh my God. Ron?"

* * *

 _ **Next Chapter: Diablo Night, the True Story**_


	8. Chapter 8

_**Kim Possible and all related characters are the property of Disney. Transformers and all related characters are the property of Hasbro.**_

 _ **The Transformers used will be a mixture of Generation 1, Beast Wars, the IDW Comics series (which is fantastic, by the way), the Aligned Continuity (The**_ **Prime** _ **and**_ **Robots in Disguise** _ **TV series and the Fall of Cybertron and War for Cybertron video games), and a smattering of**_ **The Unicron Trilogy (Armada, Energon,** _ **and**_ **Cybertron)** _ **and**_ **Animated** _ **.**_

* * *

I rubbed my eyes and stifled a yawn. It had been a while since I had done two missions in one day, and I had never had a mission end with as much of an emotional gut punch as the one to the Lowerton Mech installation did, but that didn't mean that I wanted to go into the interrogation room looking this dead. I doubted the quad shot espresso I'd just downed would do the trick, though.

My name is Kim Possible. I'm a Global Justice agent on detached assignment with Unit E, and I'm about to have a sit down discussion with a dead woman. Six years ago I thought that Dr. Drakken, Shego, and my best friend Ron Stoppable had been killed when Bueno Nacho Headquarters exploded. Just a few short hours ago I came face to face with Shego and Ron, both very much alive, although in Ron's case it looked like he was barely hanging on.

Ron. When we got him back to base the doctors discovered he was dehydrated, underweight, and was covered in scars and healed burns. X-rays had also showed that almost every bone in his body had been broken in the last few years. That was just his body. I was terrified about the mental scars.

I'd spent the last six years hoping that somehow, some way, Ron had survived that explosion. And now that I knew he had, I almost wish he hadn't. Ron had been tortured during that time. I hated to even think it, but in this case, death may have been a mercy.

I took a deep, cleansing breath and walked into the interrogation room. This room had been set up to block any and all radio signals so the miniature bombs Mech injected into Shego's bloodstream couldn't be remotely detonated. That was one of the reasons it took so long to get Shego here to Nevada from Colorado, even with the ground bridge. We had to get this set up, and we had to set up something similar in Optimus Prime's trailer so we could actually get Shego back here alive. Now it was time to get some answers.

When I entered the room Shego was seated at the table. Her raven black hair was hanging loosely about her shoulders, and her Mech uniform had been replaced with a grey jumpsuit with the Unit E logo over the left breast. She was looking down at her manacled hands, then up at Spike Witwicky, who was sitting across from her, and then up at me.

Shego's lip curled into a smirk. "You're new partner's cute, Princess. A real step up from the buffoon."

I didn't take the bait. I sat down and glanced over at Spike to make sure we were on the same page. No bad cop/good cop. We were just going to ask unrelenting questions and keep asking them until she answered us. I just hoped it didn't take too long. I really wanted to get back to the infirmary to check on Ron.

"You're no fun anymore, you know that?" Shego leaned back in her chair and started to examine her nails, which were extremely short. "I don't know what you think you're going to get from me, Kimmie. I've got nothing."

"What you have is information," Spike said. "The sooner you spill it, the sooner we look into getting those nanite bombs out of your circulatory system."

"Look, pal, Mech kept me in the dark! Sometimes literally! All I know about those guys is that they're a bunch of real sick puppies! I used to think I was evil, but these guys take the cake."

I put my hands on the table. "How about this then; tell us how you survived the explosion at Bueno Nacho Headquarters that night."

"Ask the buffoon," Shego snarled. She and I both looked up in surprise when Spike slammed his fists down on the table.

"His name is Ron Stoppable," Spike said in a voice that made my blood go to ice. Shego, clearly rattled, only nodded.

"Now," I said, "I do believe you were going to tell us how you got out of there alive, and who the woman was whose pelvis was found at the crime scene."

Shego leaned back in her seat, and her already pale green skin seemed to get paler at the memories we were dredging up. She took a deep breath and slowly let it out.

"He finally had a good idea, you know," she eventually said. "Dr. D. He got Nakasumi's toy design, your dad's Hephaestus gadgets, he even used real honest to God psychology to get into your head! I mean, he figured out what made you tick, and he sent a fake hottie to keep your sorry butt distracted." She grinned at me when she said that.

I returned that grin. "Yeah, and I stabbed that phony right between the eyes with a pocket knife when I found out what it was."

Shego's grin disappeared and she slinked back into her seat. "Didn't know you had a dark side, Kimmie."

"We all have dark sides," I said. "I've been letting mine out more often." Okay, so I was playing the bad cop card, but it was also true. Since joining Global Justice, I'd had to fight harder. A lot of the time, my life depended on it.

"Let's get back on track," Spike said. "You're alive and Stoppable's alive. Is Drakken at another Mech compound somewhere?"

Shego hung her head. "No."

"How can you be so sure?" I asked.

"Because I watched him get shot in the back of the head execution style right in front of me!" Shego was starting to tear up and her hands were shaking. "They just… they got him on his knees and they…" Her eyes closed and tears started to streak down her face. "We were winning! You were dancing the night away with 901, and no one was the wiser about what we were doing. Then the intruder alarms went off."

Shego wiped her eyes then continued. "These tank things slammed in through the front entrance, and helicopters landed on the roof, and all these masked guys came storming out. They shot up the place, not caring who they hit. So I had to power up and start taking these guys down. But there were just too many of them. I couldn't take them all. I'm good, but even I can't stop a platoon of heavily armed commandos on my own."

Shego got real quiet. Spike poured her some water, which she took and sipped. "We didn't even see these jokers coming. They stormed in and took us apart. But hey, it gave the buffoo.." she saw Spike and me glaring at her, "Stoppable the chance to get to and shut down the Hephaestus core.

"Again, Drakken was smart. He didn't put any self destruct buttons on anything in the headquarters. But somehow through dumb luck.."

"Dumb skill," I said.

"Yeah. Dumb skill. However he did it, Stoppable was able to overload the Hephaestus core. That thing freaking blew! If it wasn't for the fact that the core was in a reinforced bunker, it would have blown the place sky high before Mech could hit us with that laser."

Spike's expression never changed. "Did the Diablos go off line immediately after the core blew?"

"Yeah," Shego replied. "But it took about fifteen minutes for the core to go up. When that happened, Silas went nuts. That's when he started shooting people. He got me, too." Shego unzipped her jumpsuit and bared her right shoulder. There was a nasty looking pit shaped scar from where the bullet tore through her body. "If you thing that's bad," she turned around, showing us an even bigger, ragged looking scar. "Check out the exit wound." She zipped herself back up and faced us again. "I spent years as a hero and a villain, and that was the first time I'd ever been shot."

"Then what happened?" I asked.

"That was when Silas got Dr. D and… you know…"

Shego was quiet for a moment. It looked like Drakken's murder still weighed heavily on her. I could relate. I had always seen myself as being responsible for Ron's death. If I had gone with him when he asked, he might have come back alive! My 'rents always told me that if I had gone, I might have been killed too. I told them it didn't matter. Ron wouldn't have died alone.

Only Ron _hadn't_ died. He'd been captured and tortured, and I wanted to know why. "When did Ron show up?"

Shego looked up at me, the pain of her loss still written on her face. "It was right after Silas shot me. I tried to rip his face off after he killed Drew, so he popped a cap in my shoulder. That's when Stoppable kicked out an air vent on the ceiling and came in glowing like my brother Hego!"

Spike glanced at me. "Glowing?"

I didn't answer. As much as I trusted Spike, Yamanuchi's secrets weren't mine to tell. "Go on."

Shego shook her head and grinned slightly. "I didn't know the sidekick had it in him. He was glowing blue and kicking ass like Bruce Lee. He could have taken me out blindfolded, with both hands tied behind his back and without breaking a sweat!

"Too bad the kid had a heroic streak. Silas grabbed me and held a gun to my head. He threatened to kill me if Ron didn't surrender."

"Which he did," I said.

"Yeah. And we were both locked up by those freaks. They wanted to figure out how my comet powers worked, and how Stoppable did the glowy butt kicking thing."

"Did you know Ron was in the Circuit Breaker suit?" Spike asked.

"No," she said. "We were separated after we were marched out of there and Silas had the place blown up. He was steamed that Stoppable kept him from getting the Hephaestus core. All he was able to recover were the synthodrone schematics and a few pieces of the Diablos. And whatever was left of the Diablos after they went offline." Shego finally looked me in the eyes. "I swear I had no idea he was in that tin can when Silas shipped us to that base."

Spike and I exchanged a look, satisfied that we had been told as much as we were going to get for the time being, and stood up to leave. Shego stopped me.

"Stoppable," she said. "Is he okay?"

"No," I said. "He was beaten, burned and starved nearly to death. Looks like you may have had it easier."

Shego hung her head. "I doubt he's got bombs in his blood."

Ron didn't, thank God. I looked over at Spike again, and he gave an almost imperceptible nod.

"What about the pelvis?" he asked. "A female pelvis was found in the ashes of Bueno Nacho Headquarters, and we want to know who it belonged to. All this time we've thought it was yours."

"It probably belonged to the cleaning lady," Shego said. "She wasn't supposed to be there that night, but she was such a workaholic that I doubt she took the night off."

With that, Spike and I walked out the door. A guard came in to escort Shego to her cell. "Well, do you believe what she said?" Spike asked. "About Drakken?"

"Yeah, I do," I said. "That's not the kind of thing she would lie about, and not that convincingly. Shego's not the kind of person who sheds tears easily."

"Right," Spike said. "I'll check into company records and see about a cleaning lady. If that's who the female victim was, her family should know."

He walked off without another word. It was a forgone conclusion where I was going. As soon as Spike walked of, I headed for the infirmary. I really needed to see Ron.

* * *

Nurse June Darby was checking Ron's vitals when I got to his room. Ron had an IV with fluids going into his left arm, and various machines monitoring him. There was also an empty plate sitting by his bed. It looked like Ron at least eating. I could only imagine how long it had been since he'd had a decent meal, even if it was hospital food.

June saw me in the doorway. "Ron needs to rest," she said quietly. "He had a mild panic attack when we were about to put him into the CAT scan, so we had to sedate him."

"Is that when you cut his hair and shaved his beard?" I asked after I noticed that Ron didn't have the lion's main of greasy hair he was sporting when we found him."

"No. He asked us to do that after we got him stabilized. He said it felt like he had bugs crawling around in all that hair. Thankfully he didn't. But the fact remains that he needs to rest. Why don't you come back after he's had some sleep?"

I looked past June at Ron, and he was already out like a light. _He's in a safe place,_ I told myself. _He's alive, and he's resting. You can come back and see him later._ I looked back up at June and nodded.

"Speaking of rest, when was the last time you slept? Or ate?"

"I don't know," I said.

"Then come with me to the cafeteria," June said. "I could use a bite, and I wouldn't mind the company."

Lunch with June was a subdued affair. I had a sandwich and some coffee, and listened to her talk about her son Jack, who had just gotten a job at a local burger stand. Like Spike's son Daniel, Jack had been pulled into the Autobot/Decepticon war by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. That was how June came to be working for Unit E. She got a better paying job, and her family got protection. Best of all, Jack was kept out of the fighting.

I listened, I made a few comments of my own, and then went back to my office. I really wanted to see Ron; needed to see him. Just knowing that he was in the infirmary on the other side of the base made me antsy. He was there, and my place was at his side.

Deep down, I knew he needed his rest. I also knew that I needed to get the ball rolling on a few things. On the top of that list was getting Ron's fam here so they could see him.

I pulled out my cell phone and scrolled to the Stoppable's number. The phone was picked up after half a ring.

"About time you called," a little voice said. "I already packed, but Mommy and Daddy don't believe that you found my brother."

I couldn't help but smile. After every story I told Hana about her brother, she always said that she couldn't wait to meet him. And when I would tell her that he was dead and that she wouldn't ever meet him, she would just tell me that I would find him someday.

Hana had some connection to the Mystical Monkey Power. Sensei always said that, in a perfect world, Ron would have taught Hana to harness her powers. Maybe that connection was there from the day Hana was born, and deep down, she knew the man who would become her brother was still alive and in need of rescue. Or maybe I was looking too much into it.

"Put your mom or dad on, Hana," I said, not asking how she knew it was me. The fact that the Stoppable's landline had caller ID would have been the logical answer in most cases, but not this one. Han had probably been waiting by the phone since I went into that Mech installation. For years Hana believed that her brother, who she had never met, was still alive. It looked like she had been right all along.

"But you did find my brother," she said with conviction. "He's hurt bad, but he's alive."

"Yes," I said. "We did find him, and he is hurt but alive."

"That's all I needed to know." I heard the phone rustle a little bit, then Hana yell for her mother. "Mommy! Kimmie's on the phone! She found my brother and is going to bring us to him!"

A few moments later Dana Stoppable grabbed the phone. "Kimmie, don't give her any more ideas than she already has."

"It's true, Dana," I said. "Ron's alive. He's here in Nevada, and like Han said, I'm going to bring you to him."

* * *

A few hours later Ron was awake. He was staring off into space when I walked into his room. "Hey." I wasn't sure what else to say to someone who I thought was dead. I quietly took a seat in the chair to the right of Ron's bed. "How do you feel?"

Ron kept staring, not acknowledging me. Deep down I always knew that I wouldn't be his favorite person if I ever saw him again. I mean, what happened to him was my fault. Still, the reality of the cold shoulder really hurt.

"Ron, I-"

"What do you want, Kim?" he finally asked, still not looking at me.

"I want to know how you are, Ron."

He finally looked at me, and the cold look on his emaciated face was the same as the one he had six years ago when he left the prom for his date with destiny. "I'm peachy," was all he said. After a moment, he spoke up again. "So what's with the hair?"

Ron had noticed my shorter locks back at the Lowerton Mech base. In fact, that was how I found out that Ron was the one in the Project Circuit Breaker suit.

"This is regulation length for all Global Justice field agents," I said. "My hair got chopped when I entered the cadet agent program in college."

The silence came back, louder than ever. I let that silence build around us like a bunker for a few moments, before trying a different tactic.

"We'd like to know what happened to you at Bueno Nacho Headquarters that night."

"Who's 'we?' You and those robot guys? Or that pretty boy partner of yours? And by the way, this place so isn't Global Justice, so you'd better not be jerking me around here! If you're Mech, I'll do to you what I've done to every other syntho-Kim they've sent after me!"

Ron's outburst surprised me. With as frail looking as he was, Ron was acting as ferocious as a cornered animal. "I'm real, Ron. I'll prick my finger and bleed if you don't believe me!"

"Syntho-Kim number fifteen had red syntho goo, and number twenty seven didn't deflate all that quickly. So try another one."

I knew there was nothing I could do that would convince him, short of killing myself in front of him. Maybe there was something I could say. My mind went back to the day we met, on our very first morning of pre-K. "You're weird, but I like you," I said. Ron's eyes went wide. "That was the start of our friendship, remember? We had our ups and downs, but we had twelve good years together. Until I ruined it by..."

"By siding with a synthodrone over me," Ron said. The sadness in his voice broke my heart all over again.

"How did you know Eric was a synthodrone?"

"Drakken was gloating about it when I was crawling around the air ducts," Ron explained. "I was planning on going back to the prom and ripping the fake pretty boy apart."

I gave Ron a slight grin. "I stabbed him between the eyes. He got what was coming to him."

The silence came back in full force, and for longer this time. This wasn't going how I'd hoped. In my fantasies, Ron would sometimes come back like nothing had happened. He'd lost track of things after he stopped Drakken and had been out as a wandering adventurer before deciding to come home.

Other times we would have to hash things out, sometimes with a sparring match. Others, well, some of the other fantasies usually ended up with me needing to take a cold shower. None of those scenarios were like what was happening now. None of them had Ron not believing I was me, or had him not wanting me to be in the room with him.

"What do you want from me, Kim?" Ron finally asked. "And don't give me that bull about wanting to know what happened, or to know how I am. Just tell me what you want form me." His brown eyes bored into my soul. "Do you want my forgiveness? Or are you mad that I was right and you were wrong?"

"I do want your forgiveness," I said. "And I do want to know how you are, and what happened! You were right that this isn't Global Justice. This is Unit E, and I'm working with them on detached assignment. Dr. Director wasn't happy with my decision, but it was mine to make. I joined up so I could finally find out what happened to you.

"I thought you were dead, Ron! We all did! I wanted to know what killed you, and who, if anyone, was responsible for it. I had failed you in life, and I was going to make damn sure I didn't fail you in death!"

Ron's expression didn't change. "Goodie for you," he finally said.

I let out a defeated sigh and stood up. "Your family will be here in the morning," I said as I crossed over to the door. Ron's continued silence was my cue to leave.

* * *

I left the base right after seeing Ron. I had no real idea how long I'd been there, what with the missions and everything, and I was dead on my feet. The sun had long since gone down and I wasn't too sure what time it was. I'm surprised Agent Fowler didn't throw me out on my butt himself after he saw me.

I got in my car (which Wade had delivered to my temporary home. I couldn't keep asking the Autobots to be my on call taxi service) and made the drive back into town in silence. My mind kept going back to how skeletal Ron looked when we got him out of that tin can he was stuck in, and the pure hatred in his eyes when he looked at me.

Ron hated me. It was my worst fear come true. My best friend, the man I loved more than life itself, hated me. All I had wanted to do since I'd seen him was hold him, and tell him how much I loved him. Now I knew that if I tried it, he would fight his way out of my grasp and call me a liar.

But this was so my own doing. Why didn't I listen to him at the prom? I knew he was telling the truth! I believed him, even if I didn't want to! Now I was paying for it all over again. I'd lost Ron, but even though he was here in the flesh, I hadn't really gotten him back. In a way, he was even farther away from me now than he was when Mech was holding him prisoner.

God, Ron, what did they do to you? What did _I_ do to you?

It was close to midnight when I got home. All the lights in the townhouse were on when I pulled up, meaning at least someone was up. That would have been a good thing if I'd wanted company. Right then all I'd wanted was a hot bath and some sleep. I was pretty sure all I would get was the bath, though. Sleep would probably mean more wrong-sick dreams.

My whole fam was waiting for me when I walked in the door. Dad looked as worried as Mom did, and even the Tweebs (who tower over me now. It's so not fair) looked concerned. "Where were you, Kimmie-Cub?" my dad asked. "We expected you home hours ago."

The front door led to a small entryway, which branched off to the living room and the dining area. The living room itself was a lot smaller than the one at my parents' house, but still had a full sized couch on the far wall, a love seat along the wall under the front window, and a recliner in the corner. Across from the couch was a wall mounted flat screen TV, which was currently turned off.

I took a seat on the couch, sliding in next to my brother Tim. "It was a long day," was all I said.

"Your text message didn't say anything about you being this late," my mom added.

"Things got complicated after I sent that text," I said weakly. All of the adrenaline and caffeine had worn off, and my body was quickly turning into a puddle. That bath was looking like it wasn't going to happen after all. Falling asleep in the tub was never a good idea.

"Giant robot complicated?" Jim and Tim asked excetedly. I knew they were chomping at the bit to see the Autobots. I liked my new friends too much to let my mad scientist brothers anywhere near them!

"Some of it," I said. Then I looked at my whole fam. My dad had gone more grey over the years, and even my mom had threads of silver in her red locks. The extra grey had started after Diablo Night. My 'rents and Ron's all aged a good ten years in the weeks after Ron's dea... disappearance. As much as I didn't want to talk about it, they deserved to know the truth.

"We found a stronghold for those people who attacked you at Moffett Field, Dad," I said. "The old Roth Motors plant in Lowerton. It was such the trap, but I went anyway. Before you say anything, I had backup!"

"Did you get them?" Mom asked.

I shook my head. "Only two people were there. One was Shego."

"How-?" Mom started to ask.

"Mech captured her before they blew up Bueno Nacho Headquarters," I explained. "They've been holding her prisoner ever since. Just like they had been doing to Ron."

No one said a word for what seemed like an eternity. Then the questions all started at once.

* * *

My body hated me. No matter how tired I was, I couldn't sleep. I was physically exhausted from the two missions I'd had, and emotionally drained from the whole "Ron's really alive and hates me" thing.

Everyone wanted to go see Ron. I couldn't blame them. I mean, Ron was family in all but blood. What bothered me was the fact that Ron would want to see them as much as he _didn't_ want to see me. I told my mom that I would make arrangements. The Stoppables would be there sometime tomorrow. Maybe they could all go together.

So I laid there in my bed, staring up at the ceiling. At around four in the morning I gave up. I got dressed and went out to the green SUV parked on the street. There was no one in the car, but the passenger side door opened anyway.

"What are you doing up?" the deep voice of Bulkhead asked.

"Couldn't sleep," I said. "Any sign of bad guys?"

"No. Just a bunch of people who let their dogs lubricate on everything."

I winced. "Sorry. Maybe Agent Fowler will spring for a car wash."

"Yeah, I doubt it. He'd probably laugh his backside off if he found out about the waterworks."

I only nodded. It was common knowledge that Bulkhead and Fowler didn't get along too well.

"So how's your friend?" the big Autobot finally asked.

"I don't know," I said. "And I don't think he's my friend anymore." I could feel that stinging in my eyes that I had been fighting every day for the last six years, only now I was too tired to fight it. For the first time, hot tears were spilling over my cheeks. "He hates me, Bulkhead. And I can't really blame him..."

"I'm sure he doesn't hate you, Kim," Bulk said, trying to be reassuring. "The poor guy's spent the last few stellar cycles in a place that could give the Decepticon gulag a run for its money! He just needs time to sort himself out."

I gave Bulkhead a weak smile. "Thanks, but that isn't the Ron I used to know. I did worse than just betray him, Bulkhead. I ignored him, turned my back on him, and _then_ I betrayed him. I wanted my special night with my special guy, so I let the one person who had been there for me longer than anyone else go off alone and get tortured!" I wiped the tears from my face. "He deserves to hate me and I deserve to be hated. Hell, I hate myself for it."

Bulkhead and I sat in silence for a while. After a few minutes, the big guy spoke up again. "Back during the War for Cybertron, I was part of a special forces unit called the Wreckers. It was me, a victim of Shockwave's triple changer experiments named Springer, and a bunch of others. There was also a guy named Wheeljack. Jackie and I were partners, like you and Ron. Way different backgrounds, too. I was a construction worker, and he was a scientist. But ol' Jackie could scrap with the best of them!

"There was this one op we had on the Hydrax Plateau. It was me, Jackie, Springer, and our advanced scout Roadbuster. His job was to make sure we weren't rolling into a trap." Bulkhead went quiet, so I could guess where this was going.

"How many did you lose?"

"Just 'Buster," Bulkhead replied. "He saw the ambush, but was under a jamming field. No communications. So he sent us a signal in the only way he could. Wrecker style. He transformed and engaged the 'Cons. The firefight told us what was going on. The explosion from when an energon tank went up told us that no one survived. We went in, got Roadbuster's husk, and took him back to Iacon. There isn't a solar cycle that goes by that I wouldn't like a do over on that.

"Roadbuster wasn't as close to me as Ron is to you, Kim, but he was a Wrecker and an Autobot. He deserved better than he got. He deserved to live to see us kick the 'Cons shells and to see Cybertron restored. And Ron deserves better than he got. But you freed him! And now, even if he can't admit it, he needs you."

I didn't say anything. I was afraid that if I did, I would just start bawling again. Instead, Bulkhead kept talking.

"Every Autobot out there has lost someone. Arcee lost a partner named Tailgate, I lost more Wreckers than I can count, and even Optiumus lost someone close to him. If there's any justice in this universe, we'll get to see those bots again when we rejoin the AllSpark. But you, Kim, you found your friend alive! He's there in the flesh, and he needs you. And you," the door opened, "need to power down for a while."

I got out of the car and smiled at the big lug. "Thanks, Bulk," I said. The last thing I expected was for Bulkhead to be a shoulder for me to cry on, but I was glad he was there.

"Thank me by sleeping," he said. "And by thinking about what I said. Ron needs you, and you need him."

* * *

I really should have known this would happen. No sooner did the Stoppables walk in the door to the infirmary than Hana took off like a shot! She sped down the hall, ran up the wall, and sprinted on the ceiling, heading right for Ron's hospital room. No matter how fast I ran, I knew I would never beat Hana. That kid had super powers. There was no way I could compete.

The screams coming from Ron's room told me that Hana had reached her objective. When I ran into the room, there was Hana trying to hug Ron to death. Ron was sitting up in bed ramrod straight, and his arms were sticking out like a pair of wings. He looked at me, his eyes were wide with terror. "What's going on?!"

I chuckled a little. "Ron, meet your baby sister Hana."

The fear was replaced with anger. "Now I know this little intruder is a Mech trick! I don't have a baby sister! My mom can't-"

"Can't have kids since she had ovarian cancer when we were kids," I said. "I know. That's why your 'rents adopted her our senior year of high school."

"Your senior year," Ron said in an irate voice that I decided to ignore.

"Ron, look at her! Sensei placed her with your family."

Ron finally looked down at Hana, who released her death grip on Ron's midsection. "Brother," she said. Tears of joy were streaming down her face. Then she buried her face in Ron's chest again. "My big brother is finally home."

Ron looked from Hana to me. "Sensei?"

"Sensei," I said. "You know, from Yamanuchi?" Ron closed his eyes, lowered his arms, and let out a sigh. It looked like I finally got through to him. I seriously doubted Mech knew anything about that super secret ninja school, or the Mystical Monkey Power.

Hana wiped her eyes and sat demurely in Ron's lap. "Sensei said that, in a perfect world, you woulda trained me, Brother."

Ron crossed his arms defiantly and looked away from us. "I'm not your brother."

"Yes she is, Ronald." Dean Stoppable said. He and his wife Dana Stoppable slowly eased their way into the room, followed by my 'rents and my brothers.

"We were devastated when you... when we lost you," Dana added. "When your Sensei contacted us about taking little Hana in, well, we jumped at the chance to have someone to share our love with."

My dad came to Dean's side. "We all missed you, son."

Within seconds, both families were clustered around Ron, smothering him in love. I backed out of the room. I didn't feel like I deserved to be there. I mean, it was my fault Ron was in this sitch. I was thinking that it would have been better if Ron had never met me.

* * *

 _The Ark_ was quiet when I got there. Windblade was investigating a possible Decepticon sighting in Australia, Ironhide, Sideways and Kup were at the Farm with the Maximals, Ratchet was tinkering with something in the repair bay, Arcee and Bulkhead were at the Unit E base, and Optimus Prime was in his office.

There was a hologram of the TransMetal Driver was floating in front of Optimus when I walked into the office. The image got bigger and rotated, giving the big bot a full view of the sphere. I looked up at Optimus.

"I'm curious. Why would this Quintus Prime put the Driver's name on it, as well as his own?"

Optimus didn't turn his gaze away from the hologram. "Think of it as a product label, and a manufacturer's stamp. Or maybe an artist signing his work."

I leaned against the wall. "Was Quintus Prime an artist?"

Optimus finally looked at me. "According to legend, he was a dreamer who longed to create life, just as Primus did with the Primes themselves and later, with all of us. Unfortunately, we don't know a lot of what happened in the Age of the Primes. There are only two physical copies of _The Covenant of Primus,_ and the earlier datatracks have been damaged or corrupted throughout the stellar cycles."

Optimus reached for me and gently placed me on his work station before taking a seat. "All we know for a fact is, there were thirteen Primes in the beginning, created by Primus to combat Unicron. In some versions of the story, during the final battle, Megatronus Prime turned against the others, murdered his lover Solus Prime in cold energon, and was banished along with his dark master for all time.

"The remaining Primes returned to Cybertron, and fell victim to the Prime known as Leige Maximo. In his attempt to wrest leadership of the Primes away from Prima, he mortally wounded Onyx Prime, and was himself slain by the others. In the end, the Prime known only as Thirteen took Onyx Prime into the Well of All Sparks in order to unlock it, sacrificing his own spark in the process. But his action allowed our race to be born. As for the surviving Primes, we don't know what happened. Eventually, they all left Cybertron. Evidently, Quintus Prime journeyed to the Vok Nebula, and created the Driver."

"And you have no idea what it does?"

Optimus shook his head. "All I've been able to learn is that Sentinel Prime took it off world on some sort of mission. That mission didn't go as planned. His bodyguard Elita-1 was killed in action, and a good number of Elite Guard troops who went with him were also slain. After Sentinel turned Cybertron into an isolationist world. There were rumors that Sentinel himself became xenophobic afterwards." Optimus leaned back in his seat. "How is Ronald?"

I told Prime about what had happened the previous day, how I was sure that Ron hated me, and that Ron was now with my family and his.

"Don't assume Ronald truly hates you, Kim," Optimus said. "You said it yourself, he was tortured. It's going to take a long time for him to heal from that experience. He's going to need you, Kim. If you truly love him, and I have no doubt that you do, you will give him the space he is asking for, but be there for him when he needs you." Optimus grew silent for a minute, then spoke up again. "I know what it's like to lose someone you love, Kim. I know how your own spark, your own soul, feels diminished. You have a second chance. Please, do not squander it."

I was about to ask about who Optimus was talking about, but decided against it. It was really none of my business. If he wanted me to know, he would tell me. I knew what it was like to have someone pry into your personal life. I respected Optimus Prime way too much to do that to him.

* * *

I found myself back at the infirmary a few hours later. It sounded like 'Ways and 'Blade had decided to have a date night after their missions, and wouldn't be back until much later. Besides, I don't like being around Ratchet when he's working on something. That guy is way too antisocial for my taste. And the way he says "yip, yip, yip," when someone is doing something he doesn't think is right was so irritating.

I had stopped by the townhouse first, then paid a visit to the infirmary's administration, and the doctors overseeing Ron's care. I had something to discuss with them that I thought would help in Ron's recovery.

When I got to Ron's room, I saw my mom comforting Ron's mother. Dana Stoppable looked up at me when I approached her. She slowly came over to me and embraced me.

"Thank you," she said. "Thank you for bringing him home."

"I owed it to him," was all I could say.

"I have a favor to ask," Dana continued. "I want you to find the monsters who did this to him, throw them in a cell, and lose the key! I want to see them rot in prison for the rest of their lives for this!"

I kept thinking that prison was too good for Leland Bishop. In prison, he'd be treated better than he ever treated Ron. But I also knew that he'd wind up before a military tribunal. Maybe they'd bring back the firing squad for what he did. I didn't mention any of this to Dana.

"I promise," I said. "I swear on my life we'll bring these creeps to justice."

My dad, Ron's father, and the Tweebs slowly came out of Ron's room. They all looked pale. One by one they nodded at me. That's when I noticed who wasn't out here.

"Hana won't leave Ron's side?" I asked. Nods were my answer. "Let me see what I can do."

It didn't look like Han had moved an inch since I left. She was still in Ron's lap, holding on to him for dear life. And Ron still looked super uncomfortable about it. "The Intruder won't leave," he said in an almost whine.

I sat down in a chair by Ron's bed and reached for Hana. "Han, sweetie, I think you need to let your brother go for a while. I promise you that he's not going anywhere."

"I don't wanna," she said in a whine almost identical to Ron's. "If I'm not here, who'll take care of him?"

I opened the messenger bag I had slung over my shoulder, and a pink head popped out. The tiny little body quickly leaped from the bag to Ron's bed, squeaking his name the whole time.

"I think Rufus can handle it, don't you?"

Hana looked from me to Ron, and then at Rufus. The little naked mole rat gave the super ninja girl a determined nod. Hana reluctantly let go of her brother's midsection. She stood up, kissed Ron on the cheek, and said, "I love you, Brother." Then she jumped into my lap and kissed my cheek. "I love you, Kimmie. Thank you for bringing him home. Rufus, take care of him!" With that, she strolled out of the room.

Ron was way perplexed by the whole sitch. I couldn't blame him. Twenty four hours ago he was Mech's prisoner. Now he was free, and learned that he had a little sister who idolized him. It had to be a lot to take in.

When I looked back at Ron, he was holding onto Rufus for dear life. Tears were streaming down his face and Rufus was making little cooing noises. Ron and Rufus were finally together again. They were finally complete. After a few minutes, Rufus climbed onto Ron's shoulder and curled up. Ron sat in silence.

"How can she say she loves me?" Ron finally said. "She doesn't even know me!"

I gave Ron a sad smile. "She does know you, Ron. She's connected to you through the Mystical Monkey Power somehow. Besides, we've told her stories about you her whole life. She refused to believe you were dead. Somehow she knew you were alive, and kept telling me that I would find you."

"Mystical Monkey Power," Ron snorted. "Fat lot of good that did! Mech saw it, and wanted to figure out how it worked, but then it stopped working." He went quiet. "I kept thinking that Sensei would do that mystical image thingie like he did when DNAmy nabbed him, but he never showed. I assumed he wrote me off."

"Maybe it's because your powers weren't working," I said. "Sensei did try to look for you, but he could never, how did he put it, sense your chi. He thought you were dead, just like the rest of us did. Maybe you, I don't know, turned the power off so Mech couldn't use it."

"Maybe."

This was the moment of truth. I had to know if he wanted me to leave him alone forever. "Ron, I know I'm so not your favorite person right now. I have no right to be after how I betrayed you. But I want to be here for you."

Ron let out a snort. "So you can make it all up to me?"

"I can never make it up to you, Ron." I stood up and started pacing around the room. "When you told me about Drakken's Diablo plot, I believed you. I didn't want to, but I did. So I ignored your warning. I ignored you. Instead of checking it out like I should have, I made like an ostrich and buried my head in the sand. I thought that if I ignored it enough, it would either go away, or someone else would handle it. I never imagined you would go off on your own like that.

"I should have gone with you, or checked into it after you left. But I was so wrapped up in all the garbage Bonnie spewed at me about prom dates 'making a statement.' I had to outdo the Queen Bee, so I dropped my best friend of twelve years for a hottie I barely knew. And you paid the price for it."

I walked up to Ron's bedside. "So no, I'm not trying to redeem myself to you, make up for anything, or assuage my own guilt. I'm trying to finally do right by my best friend. I want to be there for you, but if you'd rather I leave, I will. I'll hate it, but I'll do it." I lowered my head as the tears started flowing again. "I promise that I will make Mech pay for what they did to you. And after that, if you want me gone, I'll go."

When I turned to walk away, Ron called out to me in a weak voice. "Kim?"

"Yes?"

"I-I don't know what I want. I still don't know if this is all real." He looked over at Rufus, who was giving his person a hopeful look. "Sensei and Yamanuchi were never mentioned before, and Mech never even thought of making a syntho-Rufus..."

"This real," Rufus said.

"How did you convince the doctors to let him in here? Or did you sneak him in?"

"I told them the truth. I said that Rufus would help convince you that this was real, and that he would help in the healing process. Your psychiatrist agreed, so here he is." I slowly approached Ron's side and sat down. "As for the rest of it, I'll wait until you're ready." I pulled a scrap of paper and a pen out of my pocket and wrote down my cell number. "If you ever want to talk, day or night, call me." Then I leaned in and kissed Ron on the cheek. "I've missed you, Ron Stoppable. These last six years have been the worst of my life because you weren't here."

I stopped just short of telling him I loved him. Instead I stood up and walked out.

* * *

Dinner had just ended when my communicator earpiece went off. Ironhide's voice was on the other end.

"We got trouble, l'il lady!" the bot said. "Ol' bucket head found the Driver. I'm on my way! Suit up and meet me outside your place in ten minutes."

My eyes narrowed. A mission was just what I needed to get my head on straight. I only wish I had known how much of an emotional gut punch this sitch was going to be for the Autobots, especially Optimus Prime and Windblade.

* * *

 _ **Next Chapter - Optimus meets a face from his past.**_

 _ **Author's Note: Well, the hits just keep on coming. First my computer dies, then I wind up out of work. The computer problem has been fixed thanks to a good friend of mine, so now it's a hunt not only for a new job, but probably a new career. Translation, updates are going to be infrequent for a while. I apologize for this. I haven't abandoned this story, I'm just prioritizing real life over one of my favorite hobbies.**_


	9. Chapter 9

_**Kim Possible and all related characters are the property of Disney. Transformers and all related characters are the property of Hasbro.**_

 _ **The Transformers used will be a mixture of Generation 1, Beast Wars, the IDW Comics series (which is fantastic, by the way), the Aligned Continuity (The**_ **Prime** _ **and**_ **Robots in Disguise** _ **TV series and the Fall of Cybertron and War for Cybertron video games), and a smattering of**_ **The Unicron Trilogy (Armada, Energon,** _ **and**_ **Cybertron)** _ **and**_ **Animated** _ **.**_

* * *

We were going nowhere fast! Okay, technically, we were going to a location about twenty miles outside of Nowhere, Oklahoma, but we were still clocking in at over a hundred miles an hour. The roads had been cleared, thanks to Agent Fowler, and we had a clear stretch of highway to where the battle royale with the Decpeticons was happening.

My name is Kim Possible. I'm a Global Justice agent on detached assignment with Unit E, and I was about to take my aggressions out on some Decepticon creeps! The only problem was, it seemed like Megatron had pulled out all the stops.

"The Decepticon warship, the _Nemesis,_ was spotted," Ironhide said as we rocketed down the road. "And it looks like Megatron's got all hands on deck. The Seekers, Blitzwing and Lugnut, maybe even the Constructicons! And if those guys are there, we have big trouble!"

I nodded. I'd read about the Constructicons in the files Optimus Prime had given me. They had once been the most gifted engineers on Cybertron and, inspired by the legends of one of the Thirteen called Nexus Prime, decided to see if they could make themselves like that mythical figure.

Nexus Prime could split himself into five component parts, at least according to _The Covenant of Primus_ , and each of those pieces had its own robot mode and personality. Nexus would willingly separate without fear of losing himself, and his parts would recombine without fear of losing their individuality. Again, this is all according to legend.

Long story short, the Constructicons altered themselves so they could physically and mentally combine. The results weren't what they expected. They created the gestalt process and became the first combiner team, but their merged form is basically a walking weapon of mass destruction. If Devastator was there, we would really be in for it.

Ironhide continued his impromptu briefing. "We're there in full force, kid! You and me are gonna be the last ones to arrive. Prime, Bulkhead, Arcee, and Sideways got there first, followed by Kup, Ratchet, Bumblebee and Windblade."

My eyes went wide. "Wow. Ratchet's there?"

"Hey, the doc can hold his own," Ironhide told me. "And that's not all. The Maximals are there, and we have some heavy hitters who should already be in the fight. So don't worry about the Constructicons. If they're doing their thing, the Dinobots can take them down."

I smiled. The Dinobots, as the name implied, could transform into robot dinosaurs. And their leader Grimlock was well known for his battle prowess. It looked like I would get to blow off some steam after all.

"What do we know about where the Driver's being held?" That was what all the fuss was about; a device called the TransMetal Driver, created by another one of the Thirteen, Quintus Prime.

"The stasis pod that's giving off the Driver's energy signature looks like it's being held in a bunker at a Sector Seven depot outside of Nowhere."

I cringed. Sector Seven meant Seymour Simmons. That guy was the ultimate weasel! When I turned seventeen, some lowlife creep set up a website counting down to the day I turned eighteen. Legal. It turned out that Simmons was one of the guys who watched it almost religiously, a fact he proudly told me when I met him during one of my first GJ training missions. I so wanted to give that guy a bloody nose, especially after he kept oggling me in my uniform.

But Sector Seven brought up more problems. Unit E was the US Government's main arm for dealing with extraterrestrials in general, and Cybertronians in particular. Sector Seven was supposed to work in conjunction with Unit E as a technological research arm. Agent Simmons seemed to think he was the one in charge of the whole thing. From what Spike told me, Simmons and Agent Fowler bucked heads on an almost weekly basis, and have come close to actually throwing punches more than once.

"Let me guess. Simmons and his band of merry men found the Driver and, instead of letting Agent Fowler know like he was supposed to, decided to shuttle it around to get under Fowler's and Megatron's respective radars?"

"That's the gist of it," the old Autobot confirmed. "Simmons has never liked Fowler all that much, and he's hated us since Bumblebee 'accidently' sprung a coolant leak on him."

I laughed. "Go, Bee!" I enjoyed the laugh, and the image that went with it. Then I put it all to the back of my mind. It was mission time. No more thinking about Mech, about Ron, and about the fact that the man I loved probably wanted to see me take a long walk off a short pier. No, now it was me against alien robot killing machines.

Me against bad guys. Good against evil. Finally, something simple. It's funny how the simple can get real complex real quick.

I didn't wait for Ironhide to come to a stop. I powered up my power suit, feeling the material turn into a metallic construct around me, cocooning me in its power and protection. I unbuckled my seatbelt, flung the door open, and dashed out onto the blacktop before my helmet had fully deployed. Ironhide transformed and got his weapons online a split second later.

I did a quick glance over the battlefield, getting my bearings. Starscream and his goons were buzzing overhead trying to get a bead on Windblade, and I could see that nut job Blitzwing having a rematch with my Headmaster friend Sideways. Hopefully this time 'Ways wouldn't go for a joyride on Blitzwing's jet mode and go in for a crash landing.

Lugnut, a gargantuan Decepticon with an almost fanatical allegiance to Megatron, was taking on a robot triceratops, one of the Dinobots, and was getting sprayed with fire courtesy of said Dinobot. Clearly this was Slag.

I heard a screech from overhead. A robot pteranadon (which was actually a pterosaur, not a dinosaur), had joined Winblade in her dogfight with the Seekers. Swoop was the name of the Dinobot flier, so that left three Dinobots unnaccounted for, as well as Optimus Prime, Megatron, the Maximals, Bumbleebee, Ratchet, Kup and the Constructicons. But that wasn't what concerned me.

I looked over at the main structure all the fighting was happening in front of; a combination bunker/office building, and I didn't see the objective. I switched on my visor's scan function, searching for the unique energy signature of the TransMetal Driver. The Autobots had the Decepticons busy, and I knew that even with my power suit, I wasn't in the same league. The best thing I could do was find the stasis pod with the Driver, and radio the loacation back to the _Ark_ so I could get Teletraan-1 to open up a ground bridge.

Of course the building was shielded. "Paranoid much?" I muttered under my breath. Leave it to Simmons to make an already impossible sitch even worse. I put my head down and charged forward, hoping that I was a small enough target to keep me off of the 'Cons targeting scanners. The last thing I needed was an energy blast to the head.

The Sector Seven building was fifty feet away and getting closer. Fortunately for me, my suit increased my speed. Unfortunately for me, a blast from out of nowhere caught me off guard and threw me to the hard pavement.

When I looked up I saw a blue van decked out with broadcasting equipment come to a screeching halt. There was a Decepticon symbol on the front of the grille. The air was filled with the grinding sound of transformation, and the van broke apart and reconfigured until I was confronted by a big blue bot with a huge cannon on his shoulder.

His face reminded me a little of the Decepticon symbol, and he had a chest plate that looked like the front of an old cassette tape player. There was what looked like the tape deck itself, complete with stop, play, rewind and fast forwards buttons beneath it. On the deck door itself was a Decepticon symbol.

How do I know what a tape deck looks like, you ask? My dad kept his old Walkman, even after it had long since become obsolete, just so my brothers and I could see how far technology had come in the last few decades. Besides, I've seen _Guardians of the Galaxy_.

"You are the human called Kimberly Anne Possible," it said in a monotone yet heavily digitized voice.

"And you're the Decepticon called Soundwave," I said. The Decepticon communications and spy master. Great. He also had his own private army at his beckon call. All he had to do was press a button on his left shoulder, which he had just done.

His chest plate/tape deck door opened, and a rectangular object that looked like an old school blue cassette tape without the spools, came flying out, followed by a grey one.

The blue one transformed into a humanoid shape just a head shorter than me, and the grey one turned into some kind of wildcat. "Rumble, Ravage, eject," Soundwave said. "Operation: Human Extinction."

"With pleasure, boss," the blue 'bot said. His arms transformed into pile drivers. "You hear that, toots? It's time to see if you meat bags have your own AllSpark."

The two cassette minions charged at me, and I powered up my suit. Energy blades deployed from my forearms, and I used them to swat Ravage away when he pounced at me. The cat may have been the fiercest of the two, but I was more worried about Rumble living up to his name and trying to cause a massive earthquake.

The scanners in my visor came to life, giving me Rumble's tech specs. According to the info Teletraan-1 had downloaded into my suit's onboard computer, Rumble wasn't all that smart. Actually, Ravage was a lot smarter than his fellow Mini-Con was. An idiot with power was a dangerous thing.

Rumble was poised to start an earthquake, so I retracted one of my blades and fired off a stun pulse at his left pile driver. "Not so fast!"

"You're a feisty one, aint'cha?" Rumble said in that nasally street punk voice of his. "Cute, ain't it, Ravage? The fleshling thinks she can rumble with Rumble!"

Ugh. That had to be the lamenst self referential joke I'd ever heard, and I'd heard a lot of them over the years. I took a few more pot shots at him, trying to get him mad. One thing I've learned is that when the dumb ones get mad, they get sloppy. And when they get sloppy they defeat themselves. If I was lucky, I could get Rumble to take himself and his feline friend out of the fight for me.

I fired off two more stun blasts; one at each Mini-Con. Ravage hissed and charged at me, and I dived off to the side. Ravage missed me by inches. I fired off another volley at Rumble, and he cocked one of his pile drivers back like a fist. He took a punch with me, and I ducked. He wound up clocking Ravage instead.

That seriously ticked off the cat. But instead of going after Rumble, he went after me. Like I said, Ravage was the smarter of the two. Fortunatley, Rumble was dumber than I gave him credit for. I'd lured them into the entrance of a concrete bunker. When Rumble decked Ravage, he sent the cat flying into one of the support beams, and broke it. One more hit should do it.

"You have a twin, right, Rumble?" I asked, remembering the files on Soundwave's cronies. There was another 'bot who looked just like Rumble, except he was black and red. "Imagine how much scrap Frenzy is going to give you when he finds out you got your can handed to you by a fleshling!"

That did it. Rumble let out a war cry and charged at me. I jumped out of the way, and he rammed right into Ravage, and sent them both into the damaged support, which completely buckled. The whole structure came down on the Mini-Cons' heads.

I grinned behind my faceplate. "As Ron would say, booyah!" I switched my heads up display to scan for the Driver again. It was just fifty feet to the west. Right in the midst of the giant robot smack down. Well, no one said this job was going to be easy.

Making sure my shields (I was so glad my new suit had shields) were up and at full power, I ran headlong into the chaos. I hoped that Soundwave wouldn't see me and send any more of his pets after me. Those two were hard enough. Dealing with Frenzy, Laserbeak and Ratbat might be more than I could handle.

A massive explosion on my left nearly sent me flying. It was a blast from Megatron's arm cannon. He and Prime were resuming their dance from the last battle. I hate to say it, but I was glad Optimus was handling Megatron right now. I'm not ashamed to admit that the Decepticon leader had given me more than a few nightmares since that first encounter.

I scanned the battlefield. Sideways was having a go with Soundwave. I just hoped 'Ways wouldn't get in over his head again like he did with Blitzwing, who was currently getting a lesson in Wrecker style fighting from Bulkhead.

I saw a giant robotic T-rex and a familiar deinonychus sinking their teeth into Lugnut alongside Slag. It looked like Grimlock and the Maximal called Dinobot had their hands, or in this case jaws, full. That was good. That meant Lugnut wouldn't hit me with that Punch of Kill Everything again.

Rhinox and Rattrap were also in the thick of it, in their robot modes, with guns blazing. That was something else I'd noticed about this fight. The Autobots weren't using their built in weaponry; they were using heand weapons. I saw Ironhide with a huge blaster rifle, and I thought I saw Kup using a couple of pistols.

I didn't see Bee or Ratchet, but that didn't mean anything. What worried me was the lack of Constructicons. The last thing I needed was to get stepped on by a psychotic combiner. I needed to get the Driver and get out of there!

I continued running, but was stopped by blaster fire in front of me. "And just where do you think you're going?" a female voice dripping with malevolence said. I looked up and saw a female form Seeker. She was dark blue and purple, but had a smirk on her face that reminded me of Starscream.

"Slipstream, I presume." I primed my energy blades. I wasn't sure if they could cut through her armor, but I was going to put on a good show.

"And you're the human my idiot brother told me about. You don't look so tough."

"Looks can be deceiving," I said. I was so glad my faceplate hid the huge grin I had. If it hadn't, then it would have tipped Slipstream off before 'Bee could make his move.

An enrgon blast nailed the fem flier in the back, sending her flying face first into the ground. "Thanks for the save!" I said. Bumblebee gave me a thumbs up and ran back into the fracas, leaving me with Starscream's twin sister.

Yes, Transformers can have twins. It comes from a spark splitting when they emerge from the Well of All Sparks on Cybertron. The AllSpark exists in the Well, as do automated facilities that produce protoforms to house the new sparks. Supposedly Primus himself created the protoform factories. That would explain why, when the energon shortage on Cybertron got really bad, they stopped producing more protoforms, and why new sparks stopped emerging from the AllSpark.

Starscream and Slipstream were one example of this twin spark thing, as were Rumble and Frenzy. From what Ratchet told me, it wasn't that rare of an occurance. There were even a couple of 'bots back on Cybertron who weren't just split sparks, but a split protoform. They could combine into a single 'bot without having to go through the gestalt process. That would be something to see.

There were other 'bots who viewed themselves as siblings without being a split spark. In that case, they had emerged from the Well at the same time. I had read about a couple of Autobot Racers named Sideswipe and Sunstreaker who were brothers in that way.

Before you ask, the other Seekers weren't related to Starscream. They had similar body types because they were Seekers. They were all reformatted to look that way when they got the job. I guess it was the Seeker equivalent of a uniform.

I shook myself out of my musings. I had to get my head back in the game if I wanted to keep it attached to me. "The Driver. Focus on the Driver." The coast was as clear as it was going to get. The fighting had shifted away from the far bunker, but I still had Slipstream to worry about.

"At least your voice doesn't sound like nails down a chalkboard."

She rolled her optics. "Trust me, his voice is the least of his flaws. Just knowing that our sparks used to be one and the same makes me ill."

Sibling rivalry. I could work with that. I mean, I'd been dealing with it since the Tweebs were old enough to get under my skin. "And he's the Air Commander while you're stuck being his underling." I fired off a few blasts to keep her attention.

"If you're trying to make me lose focus just because I hate my brother, it won't work," Slipstream said with a sneer. "I've been living with that since before your species dragged itself out of the primordial soup that spawned you!"

"Then if I told you that, when I first saw you, I thought that Screamy was coming to pay me another visit, it wouldn't tweak you off? I mean, you so look alike!"

That did it. Slipstream let out a feral scream and fired her arm cannons into the air. "I'm nothing like him! I don't look like him and I don't sound like him!"

"But you sure throw a temper tantrum like him!" I amped up the power on my blasters and fired right at her head. I couldn't do a lot of damage, but I could at least scramble her main processor for a few minutes. Hopefully that would be all I needed.

Wow. Compared to Slipstream and Starscream, I had a downright awesome relationship with my brothers. Maybe it was because they were just irritating and not psychotic. I got the feeling that, if their sparks weren't linked, Starscream and Slipstream would have scrapped each other millennia ago.

I took off running, letting the suit increase my speed to that of a cheetah in full sprint. I was ten feet from the bunker when I heard something that made my blood freeze.

"Destroy the human!" Megatron ordered. He then fired a blast at me, hitting the ground behind me and sending me flying. I came to a rolling stop five feet from the bunker, and my ears were seriously ringing.

I shook my head, trying to get my vision to clear. I looked up just in time to see Optimus hit Megatron with an uppercut that sent the Decepticon leader flying.

I struggled to get to my feet. I had to get to the Driver, or the stasis pod, or whatever it was. I had to get to it, and get it back to the _Ark._ It was up to me. The Autobots and Maximals had to keep the 'Cons busy. It was my job.

Needless to say, I had a concussion. A bad one. That's why I was so single minded about the whole thing, and why I didn't even think to call in help. Actually, a lot of the ringing in my ears was my helmet radio going. I was getting pinged by Sideways and Bulkhead.

I ran sluggishly forward, not really sure where I was going, just knowing that I had to get there. Explosions went off all around me. I didn't know if it was energon blasts, or if I was imagining it. At that point, it could have been either.

My foot hit a jagged piece of concrete and I hit the ground face first. I rolled on my back just in time to see a big green form running up to me. Time had slowed down. Bulkhead looked like he was moving through air as thick as molasses.

He was calling to someone. To me? I didn't know. I was so tired. I could barely keep my eyes open. I needed to stay focused. Then I remembered the the suit's medical functions.

"Medical scan," I said. I'm surprised I didn't slur it. The suit said something, but I wasn't sure what. I felt pressure in my head diminishing as the suit did whatever it did to treat my injuries.

I heard more shouting. I looked up. I thought I saw Megatron taking aim at Bulkhead, who was now right in front of me. Then I heard another voice shout out what sounded like Bulkhead's name. Then there was thunder, followed by screaming and more thunder. Bulkhead moved just in time for me to see Sideways explode.

Then there was nothing.

* * *

I don't know how long I was out. One minute I was in a sci-fi summer blockbuster, then I was in a hospital bed. Nurse Darby was there checking my vitals when I came to.

"Where?" I tried to say.

"Stay still," June said. "You've suffered some nasty head trauma. If it wasn't for that helmet, you'd probably have a massive skull fracture. As it is, you have a nasty concussion."

"That would explain why I feel so sick to my stomach," I groaned. "Are we still in Nowhere?"

"You're back in Jasper," June said. "You've been out for the last two hours."

I tried to turn my head, but then the room started to spin. That was when I really felt like I was going to throw up.

"Try not to move."

"You should have said that sooner," I moaned. "What happened with the mission? I thought I saw Sideways..."

June closed her eyes and was silent. That so wasn't a good sign.

"Is he dead?" June stayed quiet. "June, please tell me. Is Sideways dead?"

"He's in stasis lock," another voice said. It belonged to Spike Witwicky. Spike came into the room and took a seat by my hospital bed. "He took a hit from Megatron's fusion cannon, saving you and Bulkhead in the process. It's bad."

I felt tears well up in my eyes. For a Cybertronian, being in stasis lock was like a human being in a coma. I wiped my eyes, realizing that I'd cried more in the last few days than I had in the last six years. That wasn't hard since I hadn't let myself cry at all during that time. Of course, it could have been from the concussion.

"Is Windblade all right?" I knew the answer to that before I asked the question. Of course she wasn't. She loved Sideways. She would be a wreck now. The look on Spike's face confirmed that. "And the objective?"

"Don't worry about that right now, Kim," Spike said. "The Decepticons didn't get it. That's all you need to know."

"It sounds like we didn't get it, either."

"Like I said, Kim, don't worry about it. Just get some rest."

* * *

Sleeping in a hospital is hard enough, but trying to sleep in a hospital when you have a concussion is even worse. You get woken up hourly to make sure that you know who you are and where you are. Add in the periodic checks on my vitals, and I think I maybe slept for two hours total that night.

I had thought about getting up and going to Ron's room, but I figured the nurses would stop that really quick, especially since he'd had surgery earlier that day to replace his left knee. Remember how I said that Mech had broken almost every bone in Ron's body? Well, his left knee was completely ruined. Mech had put a bullet through Ron's knee to try to force him to use his powers. The only reason he was on his feet in Lowerton was because of the Circuit Breaker suit he'd been forced into. Yet another reason I hated Silas and his cronies so much.

It was probably for the best that I couldn't go see Ron right then. I doubt I would have been able to keep from saying something I shouldn't. The last thing I needed was to blurt out my undying love to Ron when I was that concussed. He would have a hard enough time believing that when I didn't have head trauma.

So I laid there and stared at the ceiling. I answered the nurses' questions, and did what a good patient does. In the morning my mom came to take me home. I insisted on going to see Spike and Agent Fowler first.

"Not happening," Mom said to me. "You have head trauma, and I'm a neurosurgeon. I'm also your mother. You are not winning this fight, young lady! You are going back to the townhouse and you are going to rest. End of story."

I was either smart enough to listen, or too tired to fight. Take your pick on which one is the truth.

* * *

The rest of the day was uneventful. There was a lot of sleeping, and a lot of my mom checking up on me. I had to go back to the base later so the doctors could look me over. I wasn't cleared for active field duty yet, but I could get back to work in another day or two. Just what I didn't need was more downtime. And more time without knowing what had happened after I blacked out, or how Sideways was.

Two days later I was back at the _Ark._ I was in civilian clothes. Despite my medical clearance to go back to light duty, Agent Fowler wasn't taking any chances. I was allowed to visit the _Ark,_ but no missions and no work. All I could do was check in on Sideways, which was what I was more interested in anyway.

I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't what I saw when I got to the repair bay. Sideways' legs were severed, and there was a huge hole going through the left side of his back all the way through to his chest. His head was on a separate table and it looked like it was smashed to pieces.

Next to the wreckage was a holographic image of a sphere of energy. You know those globes you can get at novelty stores that have electricity surging in them? It looked like that. There was what looked like waves of lightning running over the surface, and in the center was a mass of smaller spheres that pulsed like a heartbeat. A very slow heartbeat.

This was, in a way, the real Sideways. This was his spark; his immortal soul. It was still pulsing, so that was a good thing, but from the readings I saw on the diagnostic machines Sideways was hooked up to, he was hanging on by a thread.

Windblade was sitting beside her fallen love. Her eyes were closed and her head was bowed. It looked like she was sleeping, or powered down. She looked up when she heard me approach.

"How is he?" I asked, even though I knew the answer.

"He's in deep stasis lock," Windblade said. "The blast missed his spark, but it did a lot of damage to his internal systems. And it turns out that when Mech rebuilt him, they messed up his locking chip. So even though he's in stasis lock, his spark is still getting weaker. Ratchet put him on emergency life support, but at this point, not even a stasis pod will help."

I was about to say something when the door opened and a bedraggled looking Bulkhead came lumbering through. There was a look of deep shame on his face. Before he could come to Sideways' bedside, Windblade jumped up and stopped him.

"Here to watch the 'Con die?" she demanded. "Or are you going to finish the job?"

Bulkhead's shoulders slumped and his eyes closed. "Neither one." He held out his right hand and opened it. When Windblade saw what he was holding, she backed down.

"I'm... I'm sorry..."

Bulkhead gently embraced Windblade. "I'm the one who's sorry, Windy. He saved my skid plate after I treated him like scrap." The Wrecker released his friend and walked over to his dying teammate. "This is long overdue. I hope you wake up so you can see it, and so I can apologize to your face." Bulkhead placed what he was holding on the undamaged side of Sideways' chest. It was an Autobot symbol.

* * *

When I got to the bridge, the mood was just as somber. Bumblebee was sitting off to the side, and the car doors jutting out of his back were sagging. Optimus was standing, staring at a computer screen, and everyone else was just sitting there. No one said anything when I came in.

Bumblebee looked over at me and let out a few beeps. I'd learned to understand Bee's chirps and beeps in the time I'd been with the Autobots, so I didn't need anyone to translate for me anymore.

"I was just there," I said. "No change."

"How about you?" Kup asked. "You looked like you got your cranial unit mangled pretty good."

"Nasty concussion," I said. "No skull fractures and no brain damage. I'll be cleared for active duty soon." Kup lifted me up to the main console and set me down. "So what did I miss? What happened to the Driver?"

The whole bridge was quiet except for the background hum of the _Ark's_ systems. No one said anything for what felt like an eternity. I was about to speak up when Optimus finally turned around.

Even though I couldn't see most of his face because of his mouth plate, I could tell he didn't look good. His eyes, which were usually a bright blue, had faded. His broad shoulders were slumped, and he wasn't standing as tall.

"There was no Driver," he said in an exhausted sounding voice. "Its energies had been transferred to a new vessel; one that was housed within the antique stasis pod."

Optimus went back to the computer and keyed in a series of commands on the holographic controls. The room went dark, and was then filled with various images from the location of the Section Seven outpost.

"We had deployed a dozen sky spy satellites to the combat zone," Optimus said. "We were hoping to use the data they recorded to get a lead on where the Decepticon warship, the _Nemesis,_ is currently hiding. While they did not achieve that goal, we were able to use them to make a full record of the mission. This, Kim, is what happened after you were rendered unconscious..."

* * *

I saw Megatron's blast rip through Sideways. His head was blown off just as his chest exploded. Bulkhead took a hit to the left arm, blowing it off. Ratchet and Windblade were there within seconds to get me and the wounded Autobots out of there. The picture changed to a close up of Megatron's face.

"Well now, it seems like you're down one Wrecker, a false Headmaster, and your new human pet. Optimus, my old friend, when will you learn that when you play with me, your toys get broken?"

Optimus didn't take Megatron's bait. "There's no reason for this, Megatron. Leave now and we won't seek retribution for our fallen comrades."

Ironhide came up beside his leader. "Speak for yourself, Prime! I've got more than a few friends who've been sent back to the AllSpark because of the 'Cons! I say we take our ton of steel right from their hides right now!"

Any retort Megatron might have had was cut off by another series of explosions coming from the bunker I had been heading for. It was stepped on. The image zoomed out, revealing a towering green and purple form. One leg and foot was made from a bulldozer, the other a cement truck. As the image moved up, my heart began to pound. This was what I had been afraid of. This was Devastator.

"Objective located," the behemoth announced in a voice with a heavy echo.

"Excellent, Devastator," Megatron gloated. "Yet again, Optimus Prime, it would seem that you and your Autobots have failed! I will have this weapon, and use it against you right here and now!"

The playback paused.

"Megatron didn't know what the TransMetal Driver was for?" I asked.

"To be fair," Arcee said, "neither did we."

Bumblebee let out a series of beeps that translated to, "We still don't know." Optimus resumed the playback.

Before Megatron could make a move or issue an order, something under Devastator's cement truck foot started to glow. Then it exploded, sending the combiner flying back and splitting into his six component 'bots.

Out of the wreckage of the bunker came a loud scream. It was primal and shrill, and it burrowed deep into my soul. This was the scream of something feeling terror and intense pain. And when I saw what made that scream, well, let's just say no monster movie I ever see from this point on will ever scare me like that did.

It was the size of a large car, and had more legs than I could count. It was a mish mash of metal and some kind of insect looking armor. Actually, it kind of looked like a mutant pill bug mixed with a tank, and it had more legs than a millipede. And its eyes... it had so many eyes!

It let out another scream and collapsed to the ground. Then it started to change. There was a grinding sound like the Autobots made when they transformed, but it was slow and labored. It sounded like someone trying to drive a stick shift and grinding the gears down to nothing.

The armor plating retracted and rearranged, and some of the legs folded up onto the thing's back. Others joined together into limbs. The freaky monster had turned into an even freakier black and gold robot. Its eyes, I think there were four of them, were glowing a dark purple. Then it started making a weird noise. Optimus again stopped playback.

"Teletraan-1," he said, "activate linguistic protocols and translate from Golden Age Iacon dialect Cybertronian to modern American English. Restart from last time index." Optimus turned to me. "Our actual language is one that would be incomprehensible to you."

The recording went back to when the thing started making noise. Now it was speaking. The voice was higher pitched than Arcee's or Windblade's, but not as bad as Starscream. I also got a better look at the creature's body. It was a she, was definitely Cybertronian, and she was glowing. The energy readings Teletraan-1 was showing were identical to those of the TransMetal Driver.

"Prime!" she shrieked. "I want the damned Prime!"

I looked over at Optimus, who was remaining still. The female Cybertronian continued.

"He did this to me! He made me into this!" The cyber creature collapsed and clutched at her throat. She started to gasp for air.

Her eyes began to glow brightly and sweep over the area, bathing the landscape in a violet beam. There was a small flash twelve feet away from her, then she started to glow again.

"She scanned an organic lifeform," Optimus said as the creature in the playback began to shift and change. "Not even the Maximals and Predacons can do that. They rely on separate DNA scanners to acquire lifeform data, and their critical recovery technology to replicate and adapt biomatter for their beast modes. She was able to scan the DNA of her new form directly, and adapt it to her T-cog, life support systems and to her superstructure."

When the glow was gone, a giant cybernetic spider was in its place. Now its shell was black and red, and there was a little purple in there as well. She was still a jumble of organic and machine parts, and her transformation back to robot mode sounded just as difficult as it had before.

"Impressive," Megatron sneered. "She is some sort of techno-organic creature. And she's taken the form of a black widow arachnid."

In the recording, Optimus ignored his enemy's remark. "Who are you?" he asked.

"Where's the Prime?" the creature demanded again. This time she only had two eyes, and they were red as blood. There was the hourglass marking of a black widow spider on the armor plating around her hips, all eight spider legs were hanging off her back, and a gold and black battle helmet rested on her head. "He's the one who did this to me! Where is Sentinel Prime?!"

"By Primus," the Optimus in the recording said. His face plate opened and retracted, revealing a mouth wide open with shock and surprise. "Ariel? Can it be you?"

"Not Ariel," the creature replied. "No one calls me that! I'm Elita-1!" She looked down at herself. "I was Elita-1."

"Ariel, it's me! It's Orion Pax!"

"No." Ariel, or Elita-1, looked at Optimus in confusion. "No. Orion's an archivist, not a soldier."

"I was reformatted, Ariel, just as you were. You've... been gone a long time."

"How long?"

"Over nine million stellar cycles."

Elita-1 stumbled back. Optimus went to catch her, but she kept him at arm's length. "No," was all she said.

"And Sentinel Prime is long since dead."

"Yes," Megatron said, finally playing his hand. "And your dear Orion is now the Prime. He is Optimus Prime! And as such, he now bears the guilt for the crimes of his predecessors! Your transformation into this abomination is now _HIS FAULT!"_

"No!" Optimus exclaimed. "While it is true that I am Prime now, I had no knowledge of what happened to you. Had I known, I would have found you! I would have tried to help you!"

"You're... Prime?" Elita-1's eyes narrowed. "A Prime did this to me, and a Prime is going to pay!"

"Ariel..."

"No! I'm not Ariel! I'm not even Elita-1 anymore!" She glanced over to Megatron. "What did you say I was? A black widow arachnid?" The fem bot sneered. "BlackArachnia. I like the sound of that. And you, Optimus Prime, are going to pay for what happened to me!"

There was a flash of light, then the playback stopped and the lights came back up. "She hit us all with some kind of cyber venom," Arcee said. "We were knocked offline, and when we woke up, Optimus had deep gouges in his armor. I guess BlackArachnia tried to rip him apart, but didn't realize that when he was reformatted into a soldier, his plating was reinforced."

"Lucky for him," Kup said. "And lucky for us that the Decepticons were knocked offline the same time we were. When we all came to, we weren't up to continuing the fight."

"And you don't know where she is now?" I asked.

"No," Optimus said slowly. "In her techno-organic state, BlackArachnia is invisible to our scanners. But that also means that she is also invisible to those of the Decepticons."

* * *

I stayed at the _Ark_ longer than I intended to. I wanted to do something for Windblade and Optimus, but I didn't know what. You'd think that I would be the one to talk to when you lose someone, or when a lost love comes back and doesn't want to have anything to do with you, but I wasn't. I was starting to realize that. Instead, I decided to go to the repair bay and check in on Sideways. Visiting a sick or injured friend was something I was good at. Unfortunately for me, I walked in on a fight.

Windblade was shouting, screaming, at Optimus Prime. "You're a Prime! You have the Matrix of Leadership; the hilt of the Star Saber and an artifact of Solus Prime herself! You're the Living Prime, beloved of Primus! You can save him! You can heal him!"

Optimus stood there, silently taking Windblade's abuse. Never once did he do anything to silence her, and never once did he speak up for himself. He let Windblade get it out of her system.

"You're a Prime!" she said again, weaker. She held up her fists as if to pound on Optimus' chest plate, but she didn't. Instead she fell into her leader, and he embraced her.

"I know how you feel, Windblade. I truly do. But the Matrix doesn't work like that. And if Solus Prime herself were here right now, she would tell you not to put your faith in her. She would tell you to put your faith in Ratchet and your fellow 'bots." Optimus took Windblade by the shoulders and shifted her so he could look her in the optics. "I know your people revere the Thirteen Primes, but they were as flawed as the rest of us. Again, something Solus herself would tell you herself if she were here."

Windblade looked down at the floor, then up at her leader. There was a look of shame and embarrassment on her face. "Optimus, I..."

"It's all right, Windblade. You're hurting right now, and you were expressing that hurt. But like I said, put your faith in your friends, and in Sideways. A lesser 'bot would have expired long before now. He's fighting, and you must do the same. He needs you, Windblade. And if it is time for Sideways to rejoin the AllSpark, take solace that there will come a time when you are reunited in the light of Primus. Until that day, till all are one, we must keep living."

Windblade nodded. "Till all are one," she repeated, and headed off towards the repair bay. Optimus leaned up against the wall and slumped over. He had been putting on a brave front for Windblade, but I could tell that he was hurting as bad as she was.

"That was a nice sentiment. 'Till all are one.' I like that."

Optimus looked down at me. "It was something that Thirteen would say to rally the other Primes."

I folded my arms and looked up at the Autobot leader. "You talk about the ancient Primes as if you knew them."

"I did, in a sense." Optimus stood up straight, and the windows on his chest opened outward like doors. An inner plate, under the windows, opened upward like a hatch, revealing a golden orb with what looked like a pair of silver handles jutting out from the side. Within the globe was a glowing blue crystal.

"It's beautiful," I said in awe.

"This is the Matrix of Leadership," Optimus explained. "Despite what the Camiens believe, it was never the hilt of Prima's Star Saber, and was not forged by Solus Prime. It is a vessel. The crystal it contains is the distilled essence of Primus, and the combined wisdom of the Thirteen Primes. I am the first modern Prime to bear it, and as such, I have access to the accumulated wisdom of the ancients."

Optimus closed his chest cavity. "The Primes were not perfect. Prima believed that, as the first created, he was always in the right. Vector Prime could not always discern where in time he was since past, present, and future existed simultaneously for him, and the chronicler who wrote _The Covenant of Primus_ didn't always pay as close attention to what was going on around him as he should have."

That didn't make sense to me. "How can someone writing down what was happening around him not know what's going on around him?"

Optimus chuckled. "Arrogance. He was so sure of his powers of observation that he stopped using them. Eventually, all of the Primes would pay the price of their own hubris. Some died, some vanished, and some went into hiding."

"And some hid their names," I said. I was really curious about the chronicler and Thirteen. I wanted to know who they were.

Optimus turned to walk off. "They had their reasons."

* * *

"Now what?" When I got back to base later that afternoon, I saw a Global Justice hypersonic transport sitting on the runway. I had been in contact with Dr. Director since I started this assignment, sending her mission briefings. I didn't tell her everything, of course. I mean, I couldn't.

There was a lot of stuff I'd seen, like the Autobots, that were so classified that I didn't think the president had the proper security clearance to know about them. But on the flip side, there was a lot of GJ intel that I didn't share with Unit E. In both cases, I only passed on what was relevant, like the fact that Mech might have people in GJ, and that they had synthodrone technology. I had this fear in the back of my head that I was going to be pulled from this assignment. If that happened...

When I walked into Agent Fowler's office, I walked in on a fight that made the battle against the Decepticons a few days ago look like a playground spat. On one side you had Spike, Agent Fowler, and June, and on the other was Dr. Director and Will Du.

"Agent Possible, you're out of uniform," Dr. Director said when she saw me.

I looked down at my clothes; a button up black shirt and matching slacks. It wasn't the suits I normally wore around here, but it would work in a pinch if I got the clearance to go back to work.

"Agent Possible's been on light duty following an injury during a field operation," Spike said. He was so not in a good mood.

"I'm glad you're here, Agent," Dr. Director continued. "You have a lot of explaining to do."

I closed the office door and took a seat. "I'm afraid I don't understand."

Will let out a disgusting chuckle. "Spoken like a true amateur," he sneered. "We're here to take your prisoners into custody, and to find out why you didn't see fit to tell us that Shego and your loser ex-sidekick were still alive."

* * *

 **Next chapter: Kim vs Global Justice.**

 _ **Author's Note: Okay, this took a lot longer to get out than I thought it would. Let's just blame it on real life and leave it at that. Some of the stuff that's been going down with me lately is something you'd see in a sitcom, and not in a good way.**_

 _ **But this story continues! Thanks you for your patience.**_


	10. Chapter 10

_**Kim Possible and all related characters are the property of Disney. Transformers and all related characters are the property of Hasbro.**_

 _ **The Transformers used will be a mixture of Generation 1, Beast Wars, the IDW Comics series (which is fantastic, by the way), the Aligned Continuity (The**_ **Prime** _ **and**_ **Robots in Disguise** _ **TV series and the Fall of Cybertron and War for Cybertron video games), and a smattering of**_ **The Unicron Trilogy (Armada, Energon,** _ **and**_ **Cybertron)** _ **and**_ **Animated** _ **.**_

* * *

My name is Kim Possible. For the time being, I'm a Global Justice agent on detached assignment with Unit E. That might change in the next few minutes, especially if I beat the living snot out of Will Du!

Will was a fellow agent, and one of the biggest control freak jerks I've ever met. He also said something extremely stupid. He just called Ron Stoppable a loser. If I wasn't so shocked by the fact that Will and our boss, Dr. Betty Director, knew that Ron was still alive, I would have punched him in the face right then and there.

"How did you know Ron and Shego were here?" I asked instead. It was a safer tactic than committing assault, even though I was pretty sure Agent William Fowler, Agent Spike Witwicky, and Nurse June Darby from Unit E would back me up.

"No thanks to you, amateur!" Will spat. "Instead of telling us, like you were _supposed to do_ , we had to find out in... other ways."

William Fowler, the agent in charge of Unit E, never lost his poker face. He just looked at Will with an expression that would have made Mr. Barkin sweat. "And what ways are those, Agent Du? And are they ways that would violate Unit E's security? Don't forget that we're part of the United States Department of Homeland Security, and if Global Justice is spying on us, it could cause some serious problems for you."

"As for why Kim didn't say anything to you about Ron and Shego," Spike Witwicky, agent Fowler's second in command said, "she wasn't cleared to divulge that information yet. Just as I'm sure there's plenty of GJ intel she hasn't been cleared to share with us."

Dr. Director had been sitting quietly this whole time, watching everyone else react. This was something she did a lot; she would observe a room and gauge how tweaked people were getting. Then she would make her move. She didn't even blink! The only thing she did was raise an eyebrow.

"Be that as it may, Agent Witwicky," Dr. Director finally said, "the fact that these two individuals were still alive is information Global Justice needed. Shego has information about Dr. Drakken's Diablo plot that we could use. And I'm sure Stoppable, after six years, has valuable information about this Mech organization."

Will Du shot me a dirty look. "Which means he needs to be taken away from you amateurs and interrogated by professionals!"

"I've heard enough of this!" Everyone in the office turned to look at Nurse June Darby. "Let's get a few things straight right now! First of all, Ron isn't our prisoner, he's a patient. In fact, he's _my patient!_ Second, he's been getting debriefed regularly about what he experienced during his captivity."

"I respect what you're saying, Nurse Darby, I really do," Dr. Director said. "But I'm afraid I must insist. Stoppable and Shego are returning to our New York stronghold today."

June wasn't backing down. "You're not taking Ron anywhere."

"I'm sorry _Nurse_ Darby, but when it comes to medical decisions, I'll listen to _Doctor_ Director." Will was sneering at me when he said this. He missed the look of June's face that could have frozen molten lava.

"Really now," June said a little too calmly. Then she turned to Dr. Director. "Tell me, Doctor, what's your medical specialty? And how familiar are you with Ron's medical history? Do you know the nature of his injuries? Do you even know his blood type? I may be just a nurse, but I have been treating that young man since Kim rescued him, and I will be damned if I let you take him away and endanger his life!"

"This has gone way past being ridiculous," I said. "Will, you and I both know that Dr. Director has a PhD in political science and isn't a medical doctor. And I know that releasing Ron and Shego to you isn't Agent Fowler's choice."

"That's right," Fowler said. "It's Dr. Greer's. And he's an actual MD. When he's done with his rounds I'd be more than happy to have him brief you on his patient's condition." Fowler stood up and motioned to the door. "Until then, I'm late for a conference call with the Joint Chiefs."

Recognizing this as our cue to get out, everyone stood up and filed out of Agent Fowler's office. June came up to me as soon as she closed the door.

"Speaking of Dr. Greer, he and the Stoppables would like to talk to you about Ron's recovery."

"Is he okay?" The last time I saw Ron he was pretending to be asleep. That was his way of not having to talk to me. I knew I wasn't going to be his favorite person, but being ignored like that still hurt. Now I knew a little how he felt when I was so hung up on Eric.

"Physically he's coming along nicely," June said. "Just come see us at 1300 hours. We'll talk about it then."

As soon as June walked off, I made a beeline for Will. "Du!" I shouted. "My office! Now!" It was high time he and I had a little chat.

* * *

As soon as the door to my office closed, I jumped down Will's throat. "What is your damage?" I demanded.

"I don't know what you-"

"Spare me," I said, cutting him off. "Let's start off with threatening a US government security agency! And calling them amateurs! Agent Fowler is a decorated combat veteran and Spike has seen more in the last five years than we have in our entire lives!"

Will didn't say anything. He just looked around the room. "So this is all it takes to buy your loyalty. An office."

I let out a groan and sat down at my desk. "This isn't about loyalty."

"Yes it is!" Will barked. "You're selling Global Justice out!"

"Okay, you're right. This is about loyalty. My loyalty to Ron."

Will chuckled. "And now we get to it. You've got your loser boyfriend back."

I stood up and leaned over my desk. "He's not a loser," I said. "And the only reason he wasn't my boyfriend is because I was too stupid to see that he was boyfriend material when I had the chance! And right now he's in really bad shape! The last thing he needs is to be dragged out of a place where he's somewhat comfortable, be taken all the way across the country to deal with people he doesn't know, and who don't have his best interests at heart!

"And then there's Shego," I continued. "Taking her out of the detention center is a death sentence! Mech put microscopic robots in her bloodstream that are soaking up all of her comet power."

"Good. That'll make her easier to transport."

"No, it makes her into a living bomb. Those robots are waiting for the command signal to detonate, and we don't know what the blast radius is." I saw Will start to sweat. "When she goes, she might take everyone around her. Including you."

I stalked over to Will and got in his face. "You are many things, Will, but you're not this stupid! What's gotten into you? You're the one who told Agent Fowler and Spike where to find me when I was visiting Ron's grave. You're the one who was dead set on getting me out of the way for a little while, and now you're villifying me for it?" I went to the door and opened it. "You so need to get your priorities straight. Now get out. I have a friend to go see."

* * *

Dr. Carl Greer was a legend in the counter terrorism world. For twenty five years he was a field medic for the government's elite G.I. Joe team, using the code name Doc. After he retired, he left that job and the code name to his niece Carla. As a favor to Agent Fowler, he came to work for Unit E as a staff doctor. Now he was taking care of Ron. I was beyond grateful for that.

When I walked into Dr. Greer's office, I was met by the good doctor himself, the Stoppables (except for Hana), Nurse Darby, and Dr. Monica Martinez, the psychiatrist treating Ron's mental state. I was ushered into an empty seat as Dr. Greer closed his office door.

Dr. Greer was a tall African American man with salt and pepper hair, and glasses that almost looked like mirrors. His office was filled with mementos of his time with G.I. Joe, including a katana blade behind his desk bearing the mark of the Arashikage ninja clan. I had heard about those ninjas from Yori and Master Sensei. I would have to ask Dr. Greer where he got the sword.

"I assume that Hana is in with Ron," I said as an ice breaker.

Dr. Martinez chuckled. "That girl is tenacious! She's decided that she's going to be her brother's shadow, and she's doing just that. If he wasn't showing signs of warming up to her despite his best intentions, I would ask Mr. and Mrs. Stoppable to have Hana leave Ron alone."

I nodded. Enough small talk. It was time to get down to business. "So what's the sitch? I mean, I assume that Ron has a serious case of post traumatic stress."

"That's putting it mildly," Doc said. "I've seen guys come out of Cobra prison camps in better shape than Ron's in. But there's more to it than that."

"Ron feels like he's been replaced," Dr. Martinez added.

"By us," Dana Stoppable finally said. "Because we adopted Hana after he was... taken from us."

"And by you, Agent Possible," Dr. Martinez said.

That one hurt, even if it was true. I basically replaced Ron with Eric on Diablo Night. And this was after I expected him to drop everything after I brushed him off on pizza night to save my dad. Which he did.

I looked around the room, took a breath, and spoke. "So what can we do?"

"So far, the only people he will speak to without hesitation are your brothers," June said. "And he keeps Rufus with him pretty much at all times."

"But you're his best friend, Kimberly," Dean Stoppable added. "He needs you right now."

"He doesn't want me around. The last time I went to visit him, he pretended to be asleep. It's just as much my fault all this happened to him as it is Drakken's and Mech's."

Dr. Martinez took out a file folder, one with my name on it. "That's the other reason you're here. As base psychiatrist, I am now responsible for your mental health, Agent Possible. I requested a copy of your file from Dr. Wellesly at Global Justice. This might also help with you own problems."

The problems in question had to be my survivor's guilt over what happened to Ron. I doubt I'll ever get over that. Like I said, it's just as much my fault that Ron's in this mess as the people who actually tortured him. I didn't pull the trigger, but I did put him in the line of fire.

"I'll talk to him," I said. "I doubt it'll do much good, but I'll talk to him." Besides, he needed to know what Global Justice was planning.

* * *

No sooner had I left Dr. Greer's office than my Kimmunicator went off. I had taken to wearing the wrist model Wade put together towards the end of my senior year. It was more convenient than the handheld model, and it had a lot more built in gadgets. I had thought about showing it to the Autobots to see if they could improve on it.

"What's the sitch, Wade?"

"Hey, Kim," he said when he appeared on screen. "I just wanted to let you know that I'm going to be coming to Jasper in the next few days."

I smiled. Wade was coming! "That's great news! Are you that eager to see the _Ark?_ "

"There is that, yeah, but, well..." he trailed off. I knew where this was going. "I want to see Ron."

"And he still won't take your calls." He nodded. "I can relate. I mean, I'm here and he finds ways to avoid me."

"It's my own fault," Wade said. "He asked me for help, but I brushed him off. The thing is, had you come to me, I would have believed you."

I sighed. Everyone Ron went to that night brushed him off. Me, Wade, even my 'rents. The only people who believed him were the Tweebs. They figured out that the Diablos weren't what they seemed, and they attached rockets to Ron's scooter so he could get to Bueno Nacho HQ before Drakken fully launched his plan.

"I'll talk to Optimus. Maybe Ironhide or Bumblebee can come with me to pick you up at the airport."

That got the smile out of Wade I was hoping for. It faded quickly when an alarm on one of his consoles went off. "Uh oh."

"I don't like the sound of that."

"Someone's trying to hack into Unit E's phones and comm lines."

"Internal or external?"

"Both." He looked up at me. "But they're not destabilizing anything. It's like they're looking for a specific frequency." He typed in several commands and waited for the results. "I think whoever it is is trying to break through the interference on Shego's cell."

I chuckled. "Then it's a good thing her cell is one big Faraday cage."

"Yup. A room lined with a mesh of non-conductive materials that physically blocks any and all radio signals. You can't hack something that doesn't use a computer." He got serious. "But that means we have someone on the inside and the outside trying to do it at the same time."

"Meaning Mech has a mole." I stopped walking and leaned up against the wall. "We had a feeling this would happen."

"I'll work on a trace, see if maybe I can find out where this is coming from," Wade said. "Fortunately, I'm working with some rather sophisticated Cybertronian tracking algorhithms."

"You rock, Wade."

* * *

Okay, I have an awkward confession to make. I have jealousy issues. The Green Eyed Monster rears its ugly head whenever a pretty girl pays any attention to Ron. It didn't happen with Tara since Ron was so oblivious to it, or with Zita Flores, even though she and Ron dated. I guess I hadn't started to think of Ron as _my_ Ron back then.

No, it only got bad when Yori showed up and dragged Ron off on a mission around the world to save Sensei. Monique called me on it, but I brushed it off. She was so right, though. I jealed. I jealed hard. That would also explain why I went so ga-ga over Ron when I wound up with a Moodulator on the back of my neck and it went to love mode. Those feelings were there all along. The Moodulator let them out for air.

That having been said, I was totally not jealous seeing Ron laughing with and hugging a cute little brunette when I went to his room. Here was a female who loved Ron as much as I did, even if it was in a different way. Besides, I could never be jealous of Hana.

When I got to Ron's door, I saw Hana reading to him from her favorite Flippies book. Hana was one sharp cookie! At four years old she was reading at a first grade level. I could tell that her big brother was more than impressed.

"Kimmie!" Hana exclaimed when she saw me. Ron, meanwhile, had a panicked look on his face. "Brother and I were reading about the Flippies going to Mars! You wanna join us?"

I smiled. "Another time." I picked Hana up and hugged her. "Your 'rents are in Dr. Greer's office. Why don't I take you there so I can have a chat with your brother?"

"Kay." She jumped from my arms and hugged Ron tightly. "I love you, Brother." She kissed him on the cheek and ran over to the door.

Ron rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah. See you later, you little intruder."

I was back within five minutes. Ron's head was covered by blankets, and he was pretending to sleep again. Rufus had gone with Hana, so it was just the two of us, and he knew it.

"That's not gonna work this time. I know you're awake." I looked over at the food tray beside the bed. "There's half a grilled cheese sandwich sitting there that, by the looks of it, was made by my mom and not the cafeteria. So come on. Up and at 'em! We need to talk."

Reluctantly Ron sat up. He looked over at the sandwich with equal parts longing and disdain. "Sold out by cheese," he grumbled. "That is just wrong sick."

I took a seat beside him. "You're warming up to Hana."

"Yeah, well, she likes the Flippies, so she can't be all bad."

"There are a few things we need to talk about," I said. "First of all, Dr. Director and Will Du are here."

Ron winced. "Du's here?"

"I'm afraid so. And they want to take you to GJ Headquarters in New York. Agent Fowler, Spike and I aren't going to let that happen."

Ron quirked an eyebrow at me. That was his default "I'm confused" look. "Why not? I mean, you're Global Justice."

"I am. But I also know that moving you now is such the bad idea." I looked down at his leg. "You just had your knee replaced, and you have a lot of physical therapy to go through. That needs to happen here, where there are doctors and nurses who know what you've been through."

"Okaaaaay." Ron didn't sound convinced, but I understood why. I wouldn't have believed me either.

I took a deep breath. "And I was talking to your 'rents and Dr. Martinez. About you."

Ron slumped. "I knew this was coming."

"They told me you feel replaced."

Ron shot me an icy glare. "Well now, let's see, shall we? You blew me off for a fake pretty boy, my parents adopted another kid, and you went off and joined Global Justice after replacing me with Monique!"

I blinked. "Monique? She only helped with one mission, when the Fashionistas and a shapeshifting former heiress named Camille Leon stole clothing designs from Coco Banana. I so wouldn't have gotten through that without her.

"And do you honestly think I like working with Will? Come on, Ron! He's more full of himself than anyone I've ever met! More than Bonnie ever was! Besides, I went from working with the best to someone who thinks he's the best."

Ron snorted. "And let me guess, the best was me?"

"Yes."

"Spare me."

I stood up and went to the door. Instead of walking out, I closed it. When I turned around to face him, I was unbuttoning my shirt.

Ron's eyes went to the size of flying saucers. "Kim, what are you doing?"

I shot Ron a look that was probably a lot more sultry than I was going for. "Relax, Ron, I'm not flashing you." _No matter how much I'd like to._ "I'm only going to show you something."

When I sat down, I pulled the left side of my shirt and a little of my bra out of the way, showing him the tattoo over my heart.

"Why do you have 'Never be Normal' tattooed on your... on your... uh... chest?" he squeaked.

"I got this for you," I said in an almost reverent voice. "Your motto, inked over my heart. I got it when I turned eighteen." I buttoned my shirt back up. "This is a constant reminder of the best friend I ever had, and how I failed him."

Ron cleared his throat and shifted around. "Your boyfriend can't have liked that. I mean, a tattoo about another guy."

It was my turn to snort. "What boyfriend? I've been on two dates in the last six years. I don't trust myself with guys anymore. Not after being fooled by a synthodrone." I took Ron's hand again. He was sweating. He really thought I was going to flash him!

"I've had a lot of time to think about what's important over the last six years," I told him. "I've had a lot of time to realize how badly I screwed up on prom night."

Ron took his hand from my grip. "So you've said."

"What I told you is the truth, Ron. I believed you about the Diablos, but I ignored you anyway. You paid the price for it."

Ron let out a mirthless chuckle. "Yeah, it just proves what a loser I really am." Tears started to fall from his eyes. "I mean, I finally got to be the hero! I figured out the bad guy's plan, I went to his lair, and I stopped him! I was even gonna follow Sensei's example and save the bad guy. But what happened? I still lost! Drakken got wasted, I got captured, and, and..." Ron trailed off on sobs.

I leaned forward and embraced him. He struggled at first, but then melted into me. That was when I realized that I was crying too. "You are so not a loser," I whispered. "I am. I turned my back on you, and you paid for it. Had I gone with you..."

"Mech might have gotten you too."

"I don't care!" More tears squeezed out as I closed my eyes. "You wouldn't have been alone. And you wouldn't have thought that I didn't care. That I didn't love you."

Ron shot up, his eyes wide and full of fear. "What did you say?"

"I said I love you." I wiped my eyes. "I realized that the day of your funeral. That's another reason I got this tattoo!"

Ron started trying to push himself into the headboard. "What are you?"

"I'm me. I'm Kim. You know, KP?" I slowly backed away. I didn't want Ron to freak out any more than he already was. "What's wrong?"

"Syntho-Kim one forty seven said it loved me," he managed to say. "Right before it did this." He lifted his shirt to reveal a stab wound in his right side.

"Dear God," I said in a hushed whisper. "I'm real, Ron! I swear to you I am! We learned to ride bikes together! Your mom took Walter Nelson and me to the orthodontist when we kissed and our braces got locked together! You told me, before you disapperaed, that the worst part of Camp Wannaweep was being away from me for an entire summer!"

I slowly sat down on the bed again. "I love you, Ron Stoppable. That's the real reason I don't date. No matter how nice a guy is, or how popular or good looking, he wouldn't be you."

"Just... just leave me alone. Please."

"Okay." I stood up and went for the door, my heart breaking more with each step. I opened the door and started to walk out. "Can I... can I come back to check on you later?"

"Please just go."

So I did. I was in a daze, my vision clouded with tears. I almost didn't see June coming towards me.

"Kim, are you okay?"

I looked at the older woman and practically threw myself into her arms. "He hates me," I sobbed. "He hates me."

* * *

I must be a real glutton for punishment. No sooner had I recovered from my encounter with Ron than I decided to go to yet another emotionally charged situation. But at least the drive from the base to the silo housing the _Ark_ would help me clear my head. That was the theory, anyway.

The first place I went was to the repair bay to check on Sideways. His chest plate had been removed, exposing some of his inner workings. Ratchet was trying to do what he could. The only thing that looked promising were that Sideways' vitals were stable. Then I heard a groan come from a nearby diagnostic table.

"Bulkhead?" The Wrecker looked like he was trying to come out of a drunken stupor. "Bulk are you all right?"

"You Junkions sure know how to party," he slurred. "Hey, Wreck-Gar! Let's have some more of that radium rum!"

"Ignore him," a voice from behind me said. I turned and saw Ratchet holding a melted and cracked cylinder. "He's recovering from surgery. Sometimes coming out of induced stasis can be difficult."

"I can imagine," I replied. "Wait, surgery? Is he okay?"

Ratchet motioned for me to come over to his work table. "He's fine. I still couldn't make heads or tails of the hack job Mech did on Sideways' locking chip, so Bulkhead offered his."

A proud and sad grin came to my lips. "I'm not surprised. Will this hurt Bulkhead at all?"

Ratchet huffed. "Are you kidding? Bulkhead's armor is so think I don't think he can get damaged enough to go into stasis lock! But to answer your question, he can live without it, just like you can live without a kidney or your gallbladder. He just needs to be careful that he doesn't sustain life threatening injuries in battle. No locking chip means no stasis lock." Ratchet looked over at the other table where Sideways was laid out like the pieces of a model kit. "But thanks to Bulkhead, Sideways is now stable."

Ratchet went back to examining the cylinder. "And what's that?" I asked.

"The tertiary data core from the stasis pod that brought Sideways to Earth."

"It's a mess."

"That's putting it mildly," Ratchet said with a sigh. "Stasis pods are designed to take a lot of punishment. They have ablative regenerating shells, multiple redundant memory backups for the central core, and a power generator that can run for up to ten million stellar cycles without a recharge.

"The problem is that _this_ pod went through more punishment than its designers could have anticipated. Four million years' worth of interstellar travel, micrometeorite impacts that went on until it accumulated a shell of rock and ice, then entering Earth's atmosphere, the volatile ices in the shell exploding, crash landing, and laying buried in the Siberian ice and snow for another century. Then there's whatever Mech did to it to get it open! It saved Sideways, even if he was nearly totaled in the crash, but the datatracks are completely unrecoverable."

I lowered my head. "What does that mean?"

"I had hoped that perhaps the life support data the pod had from Sideways would have been intact. With that, I could have seen what changes Mech had made when they rerbuilt him, and try to fix the extra damage they caused." He set the cylinder down. "But unfortunately, the data is completely gone. With Bulkhead's locking chip, I can keep Sideways in stasis indefinitely. But what kind of a life is that if I can never heal him?"

A series of chirps and beeps from the repair bay door got our attention, and got Ratchet majorly tweaked.

"Oh for Primus' sake, Bumblebee," he said. "Use your head! Spark transplants are science fiction! Besides, we'd need a blank protoform to put him into, and we don't have one. Now go away and let me work."

Bumblebee started to say something else, but Ratchet cut him off. "Yip, yip, yip! Not now!"

I took that as my cue to leave. I nodded to Bee and we walked out the door. He beeped at me a few times.

"Optimus wants to see me? Where is he?"

* * *

Optimus Prime and Ironhide were on the _Ark's_ bridge looking at holographic images of the TransMetal Driver and the nucleon canisters. Ironhide was shaking his head.

"I'm getting really tired of these Decepticon scavenger hunts," he said. "First it was when we were on Cybertron, trying to keep Megatron from findin' the Matrix before you became the boss, and now this."

"Which begs the question," I said, "of how these Cybertronian artifacts got here in the first place. I mean, the _Ark_ and the _Nemesis_ chasing each other here I can see. But Sideways' pod winding up here four million years ago? And BlackArachnia's pod millions of years before that? Not to mention the fact that there are energon deposits here."

"Earth used ta be a depot planet, kid," Ironhide said. "We had a front row seat to your species evolving."

"And we left energon here, buried in deep pits so that sediment could build up over time and crystalize it," Optimus added. "Solid energon is more potent than energon in its liquid form."

"Bee said you wanted to see me," I said, getting down to business.

Optimus approached me. "Spike and Agent Fowler tell me that your superiors from Global Justice have arrived. I was wondering if it would be in our best interests to ally with them."

"A lot of our energon spikes and 'Con sightings take us out of your country," Ironhide said. "It sure would be nice to have folks in these other nations who wouldn't go all ape slag on us if they saw us."

I thought about that for a minute. "Dr. Director I trust. My partner Will Du is another story. He's more concerned about his reputation than the work." I thought about it some more, then shook my head. "The other problem is Dr. Director's twin brother. If you think Starscream and Slipstream are bad, Dr. Director and Gemini are worse! Most of the time it feels like I'm stuck in the middle of the world's worst case of sibling rivalry. Most of the time we're fighting Gemini's goons than we are taking care of bigger threats to world peace."

Optimus nodded. "Thank you for your honesty. I would still like to meet with Dr. Director to see for myself."

Before I could say anything else, my phone went off. If it wasn't for Teletraan-1 automatically routing the cell phone signal through a series of sky spy satellites, I wouldn't have gotten the call. Thank you, Cybertronian technology! I saw that it was Spike, so I put the call on speaker.

"Possible here."

"Kim, you need to get back here _NOW!"_ Spike said in a terse voice.

"What's the sitch?"

"The sitch is that your boss and her flunky are trying to get Ron and Shego out of here."

"I'll bring her back myself, Spike," Optimus said. "We'll be ground bridging in!"

* * *

Optimus came skidding out of the ground bridge portal right in front of the infirmary. I jumped out of his cab and took off in a mad dash towards the main entrance, where June was waiting for me.

"They're in the physical therapy room," she said. "We'd taken Ron there for some exercise, and your boss and her little sycophant followed us in. Dr. Greer's holding them off, but I don't trust that Du guy as far as I can throw him!"

"Don't worry. I've got this."

I sprinted the entire distance to where Ron was, dodging doctors, nurses, and the occasional patient on my way. When I got there, it was an Old West showdown without the guns. "Just what the hell is going on here?" I demanded.

Ron was sitting ramrod straight, his back totally rigid. His hands were in fists on his lap, and his knuckles were all white. His eyes were wide and his mouth was a thin line. I'd seen this look so many times before, right before Ron would go into hysterics. He was right on the edge of a meltdown now, but it seemed like he was trying to fight it.

"Good timing, Kim," Doc said. "I was just having a disagreement with your colleagues about the best place for Ron to receive his treatment."

"Stoppable is coming with us," Du sneered. "You amateurs have done enough damage."

Doc didn't take the bait. He simply walked up to do and looked the younger man in the eyes. "Son, I spent over two decades fighting threats like Cobra. I faced off against Crimson Guard commandos, Dreadnocks, Battle Android Troopers, and Cobra Commander himself! A little boy running around acting trying to like a tough grown up doesn't scare me."

Will backed down and swallowed. "Cobra? You... you were in G.I. Joe?"

"He was," I said. "Wich makes all of us the amatuers here!" I turned to Dr. Director. She still had that one eyebrow raised, and was looking at me with an unblinking expression. "We talked about this earlier. Dr. Greer is the one who decides if Ron stays or goes!"

Doc came up beside me. "He stays."

"I expected better from you," Dr. Director said to me. She turned to Ron. "Don't get too comfortable, Ron. Both you and Shego will be coming back to New York with us." See turned back to me. "As for you, Agent Possible. I'm afraid your services are no longer required. As of now, you are dismissed from Global Justice."

With that, she and a visibly gloating Will turned and left. Doc and June were right on their heels. I was about to follow when Ron stopped me.

"KP." It was the first time he'd called me that since we got himn out of the Circuit Breaker suit in Lowerton.

I went and sat down next to him. He was still sitting stiffly, like his life depended on him staying still.

"We have a serious problem," he said.

* * *

"A synthodrone?"

I was back in Agent Fowler's office with Spike. Wade was on the Kimmunicator, listening in and continuing to look for the communications hack. "That's what Ron said. We have a synthodrone on base."

"And he's sure about this?" Spike asked. "I mean, you've said yourself that Ron's powers of observation are... well... sometimes lacking."

I had to give Spike that one. "Under normal circumstances, if you put me in a room with someone who looked like me, not an exact duplicate but close enough, Ron would have a fifty-fifty chance of choosing the wrong Kim. But we left normal circumstances six years and at least a hundred and forty seven synthodrone duplicates of me ago. He's sure, and so am I."

"According to my digging," Wade said, "the internal hacking attempts started shortly after Will and Dr. Director arrived."

"And we're sure it's Mech?" Agent Fowler asked.

"They're doing a good job of getting around the blocks I'm setting up, and I'm using Autobot code to do it. So yeah, it's Mech."

I started to rub my temples. I was getting such the headache. "So now what?"

Agent Fowler let out a chuckle. "Maybe it's time we gave them what they want."

* * *

 **Next time: Unit E vs Global Justice**


	11. Chapter 11

_**Kim Possible and all related characters are the property of Disney. Transformers and all related characters are the property of Hasbro.**_

 _ **The Transformers used will be a mixture of Generation 1, Beast Wars, the IDW Comics series (which is fantastic, by the way), the Aligned Continuity (The**_ **Prime** _ **and**_ **Robots in Disguise** _ **TV series and the Fall of Cybertron and War for Cybertron video games), and a smattering of**_ **The Unicron Trilogy (Armada, Energon,** _ **and**_ **Cybertron)** _ **and**_ **Animated** _ **.**_

* * *

"You're gonna do _WHAT?"_

Is it wrong that, even after all these years, I still like to see Shego freak out? My name is Kim Possible, and up until an hour ago I was a Global Justice Agent on detached assignment with Unit E. Then I was unceremoniously fired for standing by my best friend Ron Stoppable. Who knows, by the end of this sitch, I might get my old job back.

But getting back to Shego. I was standing in her cell, which was really more like a dorm room. The walls, doors, ceiling and floor were all lined with a mesh of non-conductive elements to block radio transmissions, as were the surfaces in the adjoining bathroom. The door locked from the outside, and was guarded by two armed soldiers. But considering the fact that this room was the only thing keeping her from self destructing, I knew Shego wouldn't try to escape.

Mech had held her captive for six years, the same as they had Ron. He was tortured physically and mentally, and so was Shego. In her case, they conducted experiments on her to try to replicate her comet powers. And to keep her from kicking all their biscuits, she was injected with microscopic robots that soaked up her power, and could be triggered to explode, hence the reason she was in this giant Faraday cage.

I was standing in the corner of her cell with Agent Fowler while one of the phlebotomists drew several viles of blood, all of which were put in a container lined with the same material as the Faraday cage. She winced when the needle was pulled out.

"I'll admit it's not a perfect plan," I said. "But right now it's all we've got."

Shego wasn't backing down. "Not a perfect plan? _NOT A PERFECT PLAN?_ Princess, that plan is more whack than the whackest plan Dr. D ever came up with!"

"Be that as it may," Agent Fowler added, "that's what we've got right now. And we can't let on that we know there's a fake running around the base. Don't worry, Shego, we have no intention of letting you go up like Fourth of July fireworks and taking us with you. We've got some pretty high tech and heavy duty backup for this little plan of ours."

"Those freaky robot guys?" Shego asked uneasily.

I couldn't help but dig in a little more. "Yup. And if you play your cards right, I might be able to convince Dinobot to come over for a play date." I thought Shego was going to wet herself.

* * *

A short time later, I was with Ron in one of the conference rooms. He was wearing a pair of sweat pants and a Unit E t-shirt. His crutches were in the corner. Spike Witwicky and I had just finished spelling out the plan to him. Spike was the one doing most of the talking.

"So that's what we want to do," Spike said. "We can do this without you, but it would be more believable if you were there in the flesh."

Ron's eyes were darting around, as if he was trying to find an escape route. "I don't know," he finally said. "I mean, I haven't had the best of luck with synthodrones after figuring out they're synthodrones."

"This time you'll have backup," I told him. "This time you'll have me. The real me. Not the one hundred plus fake Kims you've been tortured with."

"A hundred and fifty," Ron said. "They kept having trouble with the infiltrator models, and I didn't always tell them what the flaws were." He closed his eyes and lowered his head. "No matter how much they hurt me."

I took Ron's hands in mine. "They will never hurt you again. Do you understand me? I won't let them. To get to you, they'll have to go through me!"

"And me." Spike added his hands to the pile. "You saved my father-in-law, Ron. You kept my wife from losing her dad and my son from losing his grandfather. I know this is asking a lot, but after we're done, so are you. You'll never have to do anything like this again."

Ron didn't say anything. All he did was nod. It was on. Now all we had to do was make sure the trap was baited.

* * *

I shouldn't have been surprised when I saw Will Du lurking in my office like a bad smell. He was looking over the pictures I had on my desk. They were the same pictures I had on my desk in my old Global Justice cubicle. I had taken everything with me when I started this assignment. Something I know he noticed.

"At least you won't have to go back and clean out your desk," he sneered.

"You are so loving this," I shot back. "I make you look bad, so you try to get me out of the way. You hear about me finding Ron and Shego alive, get jealous, and then come here and try to find a way of getting me fired. Which you did." I walked by him and took a seat at my desk. "Well, now your completion ratings are really gonna tank! You've been riding on my coattails since we were partnered up."

"No I haven't!" He said it like a little kid.

"You so have!" I couldn't help but laugh at how completely in denial he was. "Will, before we teamed up, you were at a forty percent arrest and completion rating! Hardly the kind of stats GJ's so-called 'top agent' should have! After I came on, you went up to sixty percent. I should add that my ratings are at a comfortable eighty six percent. You are so on your own now."

Will stormed up and slammed his hands on my desk. "At least I still have a job, you unemployed amateur!"

"Oh I have a job, Will," I said in a smug voice. "Agent Fowler offered me a full agent position with Unit E after Dr. Director fired me. "

If looks could kill, Du would have killed me. "Anything's possible, right?"

"Totally," I said. I got up and went to the door, which was his cue to get the hell out of my space. "There are bigger things here than jurisdiction, Will. Bigger things than Global Justice and Unit E, bigger than the Worldwide Evil Empire, and bigger than all of us. I see the bigger picture, Will. I know what's important. All I've ever wanted was to help people. All you've ever wanted is all the glory. That's why I'll always be better than you. Now get out! I have some paperwork to fill out."

As soon as he was gone I closed the door, went back to my desk, and sat down. I let out a long, exhausted sigh. It was true that I had been offered a job by Agent Fowler. He jumped at the chance to get me permanently. I hadn't given him a firm answer yet. Ever since I first learned about Global Justice, I'd wanted to work for them. That had become my dream, and I achieved it. Then I got a good look from the inside.

It was such the top heavy bureaucracy. And a lot of the time we were basically mediating between Dr. Director and that lunatic brother of hers. I think I'd dealt with more WEE cases in the last year than I had any other super villains. Not that a lot of them were still around.

Professor Dementor was still on the loose. With Drakken gone, Dementor took more of a prominent role in local and international super villainy.

With Ron gone, Monkey Fist declared himself the one true Mokey Master, and went about trying to consolidate his power. Yamanuchi was there to block him at every turn. That was another reason Hana was placed with Ron's fam. She was a living mystical weapon, and Sensei was afraid that Monkey Fist would try to capture her. I couldn't help thinking about what would happen if Fiske learned that Ron was still alive. We'd just have to cross that bridge when we got to it.

The Seniors pretty much retired to their island. After what happened to Drakken, I guess Senor Senior Senior decided that being evil was't all that great of a hobby. Junior is still trying to become a pop sensation, but is so failing miserably.

Motor Ed pops up every now and again. He had broken Adrena Lynn out of prison before stealing the _Kepler_ rocket from the Middleton Space Center. He tricked it out into a hypersonic hot rod to cruise the countryside with. That was the case that brought me out of retirement, actually, and the case where the Tweebs tricked out our dad's old Sloth so we could keep up with the rocket.

Sometimes I think it was simpler when I had 'take over the world' missions every week. Things made sense back then. Show up, beat the bad guys, be home in time for dinner and homework. Lather, rinse, repeat. Prom night changed all that. I knew I could never change it back, and that things between Ron and me would never be the same.

I loved Ron. Nothing would ever change that. But he would never love me back. All I could hope was that, someday, he would forgive me. Someday, maybe we could be friends again.

But that was enough of that. "Head in the game, Posible," I said to myself. "We have a trap to spring."

* * *

"This is the worst thing you could do, Bill!" You've heard the old saying that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned? Add in a nurse who's having a patient stolen away to that mix. It was so not pretty to see June Darby giving Agent Fowler the verbal smack down. Even though I knew she was acting, I still felt bad for Fowler. No one deserved to be on the receiving end of that rage, fake or not.

"I'm sorry, June, but it's out of my hands!" was Fowler's reply. "This order comes from higher up the chain of command. We've all been overridden here." Fowler turned to Dr. Carl Greer, Ron's attending physician and a veteran of G.I. Joe. "I didn't want to do this, Carl, you know that!"

"I don't know what I know anymore," Doc said. "Other than the fact that I may need to rethink my position here." With that he turned on his heels and left. Everything , it seemed, was already in full swing.

Ron was standing on his crutches, wearing the same clothes he had on earlier, and had a duffle bag slung over his shoulder. He had a look of what I can only describe as detached fear in his eyes. Unfortunately, it was a look I'd seen a lot since we'd rescued him.

"I don't believe this," I said, channeling my anger at Mech, Global Justice, and myself into my performance. "I don't freaking believe this!" I stormed up to Fowler and Spike. "Not even three hours ago you were saying that Ron wasn't going anywhere! And now you're turning him over? What's the stinking sitch here?!"

"Kim," Spike said, doing his best to sound like the calming influence, "it's out of our hands. This came all the way down from-"

"I don't give a damn if it came down from on high with angels and a choir!" I pointed over to where Ron was standing. "He should be resting! He should be getting better, not being sent off to some GJ gulag!" Okay, I maybe went a teensy bit too far with that one, but I was on a roll.

"Agent Possible, that's enough!" Dr. Director snipped.

"You don't get to give me orders anymore," I snapped back. "You lost that right when you fired me. And don't think that I'm going to take that lying down! I've already sent off a grievance about that to your superiors!"

I turned to Spike and Agent Fowler. "And if this is how things are going to work around here, then I want no part of it. I quit."

"That's your choice," Fowler said, hanging his head. "But before you do that, please escort our guests out to the tarmac so they can be transferred over to Dr. Director's custody."

"Kim?" Ron's voice sounded small and scared. That was real fear, not an act. "Don't let them take me away. Please."

I went to Ron and took his hands. "I'll be there with you. Every step of the way." I shot a death glare over to Du and Dr. Director. "I need to get changed into my battlesuit, just in case things go bad, then I'll meet you at Shego's cell. And let's hope we don't all get blown to kingdom come if those signal blockers don't work."

* * *

I was already at Shego's Faraday cage cell when Will and Dr. Director got there. I was wearing my black and blue battlesuit, and Shego was outside the door and had been shackled and fitted with the signal blocker; a combination belt and head unit that, in theory, would stop any unauthorized radio signals from reaching the nanites in her bloodstream by creating a radio scrambler field around her.

"I still think this isn't gonna work," Shego sneered.

"You'd better hope it does," I shot back. "I don't want to get covered in Shego splatter."

"More like you don't want to get turned into Kimmie kibble when I go boom."

"Will both of you just shut up?" Will snapped.

"Oh look," Shego said in a singsong voice. "It's little Willy Dufus and his handler, the Nick Fury wannabe."

"Keep it up, Shego," Dr. Director said, "and I just might let that self destruct signal come through."

I shot Dr. Director a death glare. "What part of 'unknown blast radius' don't you two understand? If she goes up, she could take this entire base with her! What, did you think I was making that up?"

"Yes," was all Will said.

I let out a groan, rolled my eyes, and walked on. Shego was on my right, and Ron was on my left. Will and Dr. Director were bringing up the rear. It was slow going, due mainly to Ron being on crutches, and that was getting to the GJ reps.

"Can we please hurry this along?" Will complained.

To my surprise, Ron turned around and let into Will. "You try getting your knee shot out at close range and see how fast _you_ move!"

I put my hand on Ron's shoulder. He cringed on reflex, as if physical contact now meant pain. He looked at me with a worried look on his face. I smiled and mouthed the words "Nice one."

We continued on to the back loading dock. Outside was a red cab-over-engine big rig hooked up to a grey trailer that had a blue stripe running down the sides. It also had a very familiar red emblem emblazoned on it. I smiled. Backup just in case I needed it. Ten feet from the truck was the GJ hypersonic transport.

"This is where we part ways, Kim," Dr. Director said.

"No way. I go with Ron all the way to the transport."

"What am I, chopped liver?" Shego groused. "Or are you waiting to see if that's what I turn into?"

I wasn't paying attention to Shego's tantrum. For one thing, I so didn't want to hear her complain, and for another, I had just gotten a message over my earpiece that I had been waiting for. The detonation signal had been detected, analyzed, decrypted and blocked.

I nodded at Ron, and we both turned to face Will and Dr. Director. "Change of plans. Ron and Shego aren't going anywhere, and you go into a holding cell."

Will threw the conniption fit I expected. "You stupid amateur! You really think you can lock us up? I can have you sitting in a foreign prison cell where no one will ever find you!"

"That's enough, Will," Dr. Director said.

"Exactly," I agreed. "Besides, Will, I wasn't talking to you. I was talking to her." I looked straight at Dr. Director.

With lighting speed, Dr. Director lunged at me, but before she could get far, Ron lashed out with one of his crutches, catching the spymaster upside the head and sending her flying.

"That's it!" Will had his shock watch trained on Ron. "All of you are under arrest!"

"Will, you idiot!" Ron shouted. "Look at her!"

We all turned our attention to Dr. Director, who was pulling herself to her feet. Her head had turned a hundred and eighty degrees, and she was slowly repositioning it so she faced forward. When she had, we saw that her eye patch was gone, and that instead of a ruined eye or an eyelid covering an empty socket, the patch had covered nothing. All that was there was a blank expanse of synthetic skin.

"What the hell..." Will muttered.

"That was never Dr. Director," I said. "That's a synthodrone. And she's been trying to hack into Unit E's communications array since you got here."

"Not an easy task, I'll admit," the synthodrone said. "Your blockers are better than we thought. But now that I have Shego right in front of me..."

"Not so fast." I worked the controls in my suit's glove, and Shego faded from view. She was never in that cell. That was all a holomatter simulation; the same kind that shielded my power suit at the Mech base in Lowerton, and was doing the same thing now since I was wearing the power suit and not my old battlesuit. I didn't want to tip my hand to Mech that we were onto them, and I didn't want Will to know I had this kind of tech. Besides, the power suit had the hollomatter projector and my battlesuit didn't.

Will was dumbstruck. He backed up a few steps, stumbled, and fell flat on his butt. I would have laughed if this hadn't been a life and death sitch.

"How did you figure it out?" the synthodrone asked.

"Blame Ron," I said.

"You never blinked," Ron said. "Like, ever. Just a little flaw I noticed on syntho-Kim number one that I never bothered to point out. Those Mech scientists really dropped the ball on that one."

"So true," I added. "You'd think they would have noticed." I really didn't have much room to talk since I, and everyone else, had missed that one too. You'd think someone not blinking would be a dead giveaway, but not this time. Maybe it was because Dr. Director only had one eye, or because we were distracted by the sitch at hand. Or maybe we were all that oblivious to it. Whatever the reason, Ron noticed it, pointed it out, and got the ball rolling on this.

"Where's Shego?" the synthodrone demanded.

"Where you won't get her. Ever." I got in a fighting stance.

"You really think you can take me on? I'm an infiltrator/combatant model synthodrone! Your sixteen styles of Kung Fu mean nothing to me!"

"Who said anything about fighting? I'm doing my best Ron Stoppable impersonation and distracting you."

"You're wh-" The Betty-drone didn't finish its sentence. It was hit by a high voltage stun beam from behind, courtesy of an elelcro gun wielded by one Agent Marissa Fairbourne. That was a special prototype weapon G.I. Joe developed. The fact that Marissa's 'rents, Flint and Lady Jaye, were long time Joes was what gave us access to that thing in the first place.

The synthodrone collapsed to the ground without draining. It's CPU was scrambled, but the tech was slavagable. That meant that we had a vital piece of Mech's equipment that we could study and use against them.

"Thanks for the assist, Agent Fairbourne," I said.

"Anytime, Agent Possible," the brunette responded. "Now, I need to get this back to the Pit before my folks get antsy about this thing."

"No one move!" I turned and looked at Will, who was holding an actual gun, pointing it right at me.

"For the love of God, Will," I groaned. "Would you please knock it off? That was never Dr. Director, which means Ron, Shego, and _you_ were never going to New York!"

"I don't care," Will snarled. "Ever since I met you, you've been mocking me! It got worse when you joined up and we became partners. All you do, all you _ever do,_ is make me look bad! Well, no more! I'm done! You're going down, then I'm taking Stoppable and Shego to the real Dr. Director, and _I'll_ be the best agent again!"

A loud grinding sound filled the air, and a huge shadow fell over Will. He turned around and saw Optimus Prime looming over him. "I suggest you drop the weapon." Optimus got down on one knee and glared right into Will's eyes. "Now."

Will dropped the gun, turned around, and fainted.

"Well," Ron said, "that was anticlimactic."

* * *

A green vortex opened in Shego's cell, and she came walking out of it. With the door open, the ground bridge signal could get through. It was actually kind of a roundabout process to get her where we needed to. First, we ground bridged her to the _Ark._ Then she was bridged to Optimus' trailer, which was still set up to block transmissions from when we retrieved Shego and Ron from Lowerton.

The signal jamming in the trailer was selective. The only radio source that could get through was the signal for Teletraan-1, and that let Shego use a telepresence unit to control her holomatter avatar. All the while, we were able to finally get the frequency that Mech was using for the nano explosives in Shego's bloodstream. Hopefully they wouldn't change frequencies until we found a way to neutralize those things. For now, though, we had it blocked. That didn't mean we were going to stop using the Faraday cage, though. Better safe than sorry.

"I can't believe that actually worked," was all Shego said when she was comfortably back in her cell.

"Oh ye of little faith," I said.

"Whatever, Princess. Don't get a big head." Shego sat down on the bed and then looked at me. "Kim. Thanks. You know, for making sure the bad guys didn't get me again."

I nodded, closed the door, and left. That was one down. Now I had to check on Will.

* * *

It's amazing how little things can cause the biggest problems. I've had chips the size of pennies on my forehead and on the back of my neck that made me completely controllable or emotionally unstable. I was holding a similar chip in my hand that had been taken off the back of Will's neck.

"It looks like a next generation version of Dr. Bortell's moodulator," Doc said. "The original model had four settings."

I rubbed the back of my neck. "I know. Happy, sad, love and hate. I had such the migraine the day after that thing came off."

"This one is more complex," Doc continued. "From what I can tell, it was set to jealous rage."

"Let me guess. I was the focus of it?" These things couldn't create emotions, only amplify what was already there, which is why I focused on Ron. I was mad at him for losing the Kimmunicator, upset that the Kimmunicator was missing, and crushing on Ron, even though I wouldn't admit it to myself. That's why he got the brunt of everything.

"That's my hunch."

"How's Will doing?"

"He's still unconscious." Doc chuckled. "I shouldn't laugh. Seeing an Autobot towering over you for the first time can be scary. But your friend is the first person I've ever seen faint over it."

I smiled. "Keep me posted."

* * *

Will was back on his feet a half hour later, which was exactly when a hypersonic transport carrying the real Dr. Director arrived. All of us were in Agent Fowler's office when she arrived, and she got an incomplete rundown on what happened. By that I mean all mention of Optimus was omitted. Fortunately, Will was so scrambled that he forgot all about that part.

Dr. Director closed her eye and rubbed her temples. Her migraine was coming back. "I don't believe this. Will, you knew I was attending a security conference in Washington DC this week. It's been on my calendar for over a month!"

Will didn't respond. He just sat there, looking intently at the floor.

"This is a nightmare," Dr. Director continued. "Now I need to figure out how Mech was able to get a synthodrone into our secure headquarters."

"They have moles," I said.

"As you stated in your last report," Dr. Director replied. "I'm sorry to say that I didn't take your warnings as seriously as I should have. I honestly thought our security protocols would be enough to keep out any unauthorized individuals. I was obviously wrong."

Dr. Director turned to look at me. "I am disappointed in you, Kim." I gave her a confused look and she continued. "You should have told me about Ron. I may not have been as close to him as you are, but I care about him too! Don't you think I would have wanted to know he was still alive?"

"That was my call, Doctor," Agent Fowler said, "not Agent Possible's."

"May I assume," Will said in a weak and shaky voice, "that the prisoners will still be coming with us?"

"For crying out loud, Du," Dr. Director groaned. "First of all, Ron's not a prisoner. And I'm not big on the idea of transporting a potential bomb with an unknown explosive yield over the continental United States!"

"Ron and Shego have rights, Will," I said.

"No they don't! They're legally dead!"

"Will, shut up!" Dr. Director snapped. "Right now. Just shut up! The moment we go with that kind of thinking is the moment we become the bad guys!" Dr. Director turned to Spike and Fowler. "Drakken's Synthodrone 901 didn't seem to have the limitations the Mech models have. Any idea why that is?"

"Well," Fowler said, "to paraphrase one of my favorite movies, Drakken was a poor scientist, Dr. Director." Everyone except Will chuckled. I guess he never saw the original _Ghostbusters_. "According to Shego, and to Agent Possible's father, who was a classmate of Drakken's, the good doctor wasn't very good at keeping notes. There were incomplete schematics for the synthodrone exo-sleeves at Bueno Nacho headquarters, and nothing at any of Drakken's former lairs."

"According to Shego, Drakken drew everything out on the back of a napkin and then lost it," I said. "Which is why they kept using Ron as a guinea pig to see if they'd gotten them right."

"Then it's a good thing Ron didn't tell them everything they were getting wrong," Dr. Director said. "Okay, Kim, I'm sorry, but this assignment is over. I need you back at GJ headquarters ASAP. And Will, you and I are going to have a nice, long talk on our way back."

Will quickly stood up and left the room. The rest of us didn't budge. "Dr. Director," Spike said, "taking Kim off this assignment would be a mistake."

"Really. And why's that?"

I stood up and went for the door. "I've joined a special strike unit here. I think it's high time you met that unit's commander."

* * *

"You can't be serious." Needless to say, Dr. Director was so unimpressed when she saw the red semi. "Your so called strike team is a big rig?"

"Just wait," was all I said.

On cue, the truck's engine started, and it pulled away from its trailer. Then it transformed into the towering visage of Optimus Prime. The Autobot leader got down on one knee and held out his hand.

"Greetings, Dr. Director. I am Optimus Prime. Agent Possible has spoken very highly of you."

"Oh. My. God." Dr. Director looked over at me. "Is this real?"

"Very real," I said. I nodded at Optimus, who returned to his vehicle mode. "Care to meet the rest of the team?"

"There are more of them?" I thought Dr. Director was going to hyperventilate.

Optimus opened his doors, inviting us in. "Please come with me, Doctor," he said, "and I'll explain everything."

* * *

The next three hours were a whirlwind for Betty. She got a crash course in Cybertronian history, with emphasis on the civil war. Optimus told her about how Nova Prime first created the Autobots as a police force, and how Sentinel Prime expanded that role. He even told her how Sentinel was granted the Badge of Vector Prime and used that as the Autobot sigil.

He told her about the rise of Megatron, the formation of the Decepticons, and the terrorist attacks in the capitol city of Iacon that triggered the war. He told her how he started out as a historical archivist, and then became an Autobot code breaker. The only thing he didn't tell her was how he became leader, or how he gained the Matrix of Leadership. Come to think of it, he hadn't told me that either.

Then he took her on a tour of the _Ark, a_ nd I got to check in on Sideways. Big surprise, there was no change. At the end of it all, Dr. Director told Optimus that the Autobots would get all the help they needed from Global Justice. She also gave me a sad look. I think she knew what I had decided before I did.

* * *

When we stepped through the ground bridge and returned to the Unit E base, Dr. Director surprised me by hugging me.

"I had such plans for you," she said. "I was going to groom you to be my successor." Betty released me and gave me a weak smile. "Will thinks it's his job, but he just isn't right for it. I was hoping you would be the one to take my place." I was about to say something, but she stopped me. "I'm sorry to see you go, Kim, but this is bigger than all of us. You're where you need to be. And I'll work out an arrangement with Agent Fowler so we can still make use of your skills."

I smiled and nodded. "Thank you for everything, Betty."

She smiled and hugged me again. "Thank you for your service." We ended the hug, and she wiped away a small tear. "Now, I'd like to go see Ron."

* * *

I wasn't in the room when Ron and Dr. Director had their reunion. It wasn't my place to be there. Instead I went to my office and finished filling out the paperwork that made me official with Unit E. That was when Will barged in my office.

"Knock much?" I asked in an really annoyed voice. "Did you think that maybe I had the door closed for a reason?"

"You're just abandoning us?" was all Will said.

I was getting one of Dr. Director's headaches. Maybe Will was the cause of them all. "First you want me gone, then you want me back, then gone, then back. You're worse than a yo-yo!" I set down the form I was filling out and looked at him.

"I told you already that this is bigger than us, Will. Dr. Director understands that, and she's working on a way to get these two agencies cooperating!"

"And that means you leave the winning team and join these amateurs."

It took all my patience and willpower to keep from walking up to him and smacking him as hard as I could. "This is a United States Department of Homeland Security operation," I said. "Groups like G.I. Joe and MASK are part of it. I'll let you tell General Hawk and Matt Trakker that you think they're not professional."

Will squirmed a little when I name dropped the leaders of those teams. "Still..."

"This is where I belong, Will."

"Because of the sidekick," Will snarled.

I sighed. "Partially. But he won't be here forever. Eventually Ron will be well enough to go back to Middleton with his family. When that happens, I'll be staying here. Yes, I am partially staying because of Ron, but I'm also staying because I've become part of something bigger! There are threats out there that make the combined forces of all the independent supervillains, the Worldwide Evil Empire, Cobra and VENOM look like a bunch of schoolyard bullies! And I'm going to help protect the world from that.

"You want to know why I make you look bad? It's because I don't make it about me. It's about the work. It's about helping and protecting people. I put the world first and myself second. You put yourself first and everything else second. Until you can fix your priorities, you'll keep failing."

* * *

There's an old saying that all good things come to an end. So do all bad things. On the good side, my career at Global Justice was now over. I gave Betty my official resignation. On the bad side, my visit from Will was also over. As much as I would miss my teammates at GJ, I would so not miss him.

I turned my paperwork in to Agent Fowler, who accepted them with a huge grin. He and Spike invited me out for celebratory drinks, but I declined. I was so not a drinker. I got drunk on my twenty first birthday and got so sick that I thought I was dying. There was no way I was going to even come close to repeating that.

Instead, I went to see Ron. He was back in his hospital room watching _Rise of the Fearless Ferret_ on the laptop I'd given him. He looked up at me as he paused the playback.

"I was about to head home. I wanted to see how you were."

"I'm good," Ron said. He looked over at Rufus, who was sleeping off a feast of cheese on the bedside table. "Not as good as Rufus is, but good."

"That's good." I was about to turn to leave when Ron stopped me.

"KP? Thanks. You know, for believing me."

I smiled. "I learned the hard way what happens when I blow you off, Ron. I'll never do that again. And you gave us a huge advantage over Mech."

Ron moved the computer off his lap and swung his legs off the bed. He was about to stand up, but I took a seat in the chair by his bed instead. He was looking at his feet and wringing his hands. He was nervous, but I didn't know why.

"I don't hate you," he finally said. "I heard what you said to June, and I don't hate you." He finally looked up at me. "I don't know how I feel. I mean, I didn't know how long I'd been gone until you told me how long I'd been gone! I didn't have a calendar I could use to keep track of things.

"For the first however long I was there, I was afraid all the time. Then the first syntho-Kim came. I thought I was saved! I thought you'd found me. Then the damn thing called me Don Droppable, and I knew it was a trick. Then the second one was left handed, another one couldn't get your slang right, and none of them blinked. So I decided to just stop feeling anything."

Ron looked at me and he had tears in his eyes. "But I don't hate you. I could never hate you." Then he reached for me and wrapped his arms around me. I returned the hug, and rested my head on his shoulder. I felt like a part of myself had just come back to life.

"Thank you, Ron," I said quietly. I reluctantly pulled back, but didn't let go of him. "I would like to get to know you again. I want to be your friend again. Not having you in my life was worse than anything I could imagine."

"I'd like that, too."

So there it was. A new beginning. I had a second chance to make things right with Ron. We may never be best friends again, and I seriously doubted he would love me the way I loved him, but we had a fresh start. That would just have to be enough.

* * *

By the time I got back to the townhouse, I was fried. All I wanted was a quick bite to eat, a shower, and to go to bed. My mom was on the phone with the medical center, making arrangements to come back, and my dad and the Tweebs were watching _Captain Constellation_ on TV.

With me being part of Unit E now, my fam would get all the protection at home that they had here. That meant they could get back to Middleton, and their lives. It also meant that I would be moving out of the townhouse and into my own apartment. Fortunately I had a few leads on places I could rent. When my dad saw me, he got off the couch and bounded up to me.

"Dad, you okay?"

"Fine, Kimmie-cub, just fine," he said. He may have been fine, but he had something on his mind. "Tell me, how's your friend Sideways doing?"

"Same," I said. "It's looking like he might stay in stasis lock for the rest of his life."

Dad nodded, then spoke up again. "Do you think you could get me clearance to go to the Autobot ship?"

"Sure, but why?"

Dad gave me his version of Ron's serious face. "Because I think I might be able to save Sideways."

* * *

 _ **Next Chapter: The quest to save Sideways, and Optimus Prime's quest to find BlackArachnia**_


	12. Chapter 12

_Kim **Possible and all related characters are the property of Disney. Transformers and all related characters are the property of Hasbro.**_

 _ **The Transformers used will be a mixture of Generation 1, Beast Wars, the IDW Comics series (which is fantastic, by the way), the Aligned Continuity (The**_ **Prime** _ **and**_ **Robots in Disguise** _ **TV series and the Fall of Cybertron and War for Cybertron video games), and a smattering of**_ **The Unicron Trilogy (Armada, Energon,** _ **and**_ **Cybertron)** _ **and**_ **Animated** _ **.**_

* * *

"I think I can save Sideways."

Those were the words my dad said that got this whole thing going. I immediately called Agent Fowler, who gave me the verbal go ahead to take my dad to the _Ark_. Then I called the Autobots to let them know we were on our way.

My name is Kim Possible. I'm a special agent with Unit E, assigned to the Autobots, and right now I was in the _Ark's_ repair bay, watching my dad work the laptop that had been wired into Teletraan-1 so he could work his magic.

Windblade, a female Autobot with a jet alt mode, as well as Sideways' girlfriend, watched with cautious optimism. The other Autobots stood by in silence. The only one moving at all was Ratchet, their resident doctor.

As soon as my dad was done entering the formulas and equations, Teletraan-1 translated it all into Cybertronian glyphs and runes. Ratchet gazed at his screen in disbelief.

"By the AllSpark," he gasped. "This is a way of programming metal, as well as a mass displacement system." He looked down at my father. "Mass displacement is a lost technology on Cybertron. How did you discover it?"

"Years of research," Dad said. "This is called Hephaestus."

"The technology the late Dr. Drakken used to create his Diablo robots six solar cycles ago?" Ratchet asked. "Why in Primus' name would you think that this weapon could be used to help Sideways?"

"Because it's not a weapon!" my father snapped. I rarely saw him angry, but right now he was tweaked.

Ratchet was about to say something, but Optimus Prime stopped him. "Let's hear what Dr. Possible has to say, Ratchet," the Autobot leader stated.

"Hephaestus was never meant to be a weapon. It was supposed to be used for peaceful exploration." Dad gestured to the interior of the ship. "You're a space fairing people. You know about the fuel to weight ratio. Tell me, how much fuel did it take to get this ship off the ground?"

"Almost more energon than we had," Bulkhead said.

"Exactly!" Dad said. "Imagine being able to build a full sized spacecraft on the ground, shrink it down, and send it up into space using only a fraction of the fuel you would otherwise need. That's what we were working on! And the programmable metal would allow the ship to create new instruments as needed, or repair micrometeorite damage. Or imagine being able to send a Hephaestus unit to another planet, like Mars, and program it to build an entire habitat that would be ready for astronauts when they arrive. That's what I was working on! That's what Drakken perverted when he built those metal monsters of his."

Optimus was silent for a moment, then spoke up. "So what are you proposing, Dr. Possible?"

"I assume you have materials for crafting, for lack of a better phrase, spare parts? We take that material, and we use Hephaestus to program it with the schematics for Sideways. Then it would reshape itself into any components we would need to repair him and save his life!"

Ratchet went over to his console and keyed in a few commands. A holographic display of an alien looking double helix pattern sprang to life. "So we can program the Cybertronium we have with Sideways' CNA to restore his exostructure to its original state?"

"If CNA is anything like human DNA, then yes," Dad said.

"Ratchet, Dr. Possible, you may proceed," Optimus said. "The rest of you, please return to your posts. Let the doctors work in peace."

* * *

Believe it or not, I now had my own workstation on the bridge, complete with my own user interface for Teletraan-1. It wasn't an artificially intelligent system. What I mean is, it didn't have a personality or anything like that. But it wasn't like a talking computer. It was intuitive, so it could anticipate what its users needed it for. Right now, it was scouring the world for signs of Mech.

I wish I could say that I was hunting these freaks down to make sure no one else got hurt, but I wasn't. I was trying to get justice for Ron, Shego and Dr. Drakken. Ron had been tortured, Shego had been experimented on, and Drakken had been executed. These monsters needed to be taken down!

Unfortunately for me, they were really good at covering there tracks. Not to mention the fact that I was emotionally fried. I leaned back in the chair that had been provided for me and I rubbed my eyes. I didn't realize that I had let out a groan until Arcee came up to me.

"You okay?" the blue two wheeler asked. Arcee was a study in contradictions. She was one of the smaller Autobots, but had a huge presence. She was also emotionally guarded after the death of an old partner named Tailgate, but she had one of the biggest hearts of anyone I had ever met.

June Darby's son Jack had been saved by Arcee the previous year. He and two of his friends were in the wrong place at the wrong time when the Decepticons came to cause trouble. Arcee, Bumblebee and Bulkhead saved the kids, and introduced them and June to the strange world they were now living in. Arcee and Jack had developed a special bond. She would go and visit him on weekends, teaching him to ride a motorcycle.

"Hey, Arcee," I said through a yawn. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just really tired."

My workstation was on one of the main computer consoles on the far side of the bridge. Arcee took a seat. "I take it that you're stuck here until your dad and Ratchet are done?"

"No, I'm here to make sure Dad goes home and gets some sleep. He gets tunnel vision very easily."

We both looked up when we saw Optimus head into his office. A look of deep concern washed over Arcee's face. "He spends all his free time in there," she said. "He won't tell any of us what he's doing. He won't even confide in Ratchet or Ironhide, and they've known Optimus since before he was even a Prime."

"Are you hinting that I need to go find out what he's doing?" I asked. I was joking and serious at the same time.

Arcee thought for a moment before she spoke again. "No. When he's ready, he'll say something. It's just, after he got the Matrix, he took all of Cybertron's problems on his own shoulders. And he keeps doing that for every other world we come to."

I could relate. I'm like that. In fact, I'm so much worse than I used to be. I mean, the one night I decided to take off, the bad guys almost won and I lost my best friend. "He is a Prime," I said. "He told me about Nova and Sentinel, the two Primes that came before him. It sounds like he's trying to, I don't know, rehabilitate the title after those two dragged it through the mud."

"I think it's more than that," Arcee said. "I think he's trying to live up to the legacy of the original Thirteen Primes."

That I couldn't relate to. The Primes were the first life that Primus created millions of years ago. And from what I had read, they were so far from perfect. "Any Prime in particular?" I asked.

"I don't know. The three nameless Primes are the ones everyone is most curious about. Who was the Chronicler, and why did he hide his name? Why did the Fallen murder Solus Prime and betray Primus to Unicron? And why did Thirteen sacrifice his own spark just to unlock the Well of All Sparks?" Arcee was silent for a moment. "Windblade's people have their own nicknames for the Chronicler and Thirteen. Did you know that? They call the Chronicler A3, and they call Thirteen the Arisen."

"Why those names?"

"Windblade said that A3 was a translation of a partial rune the Camien religious leader, the Mistress of Flame, had found," Arcee explained. "And the name of 'the Arisen' for Thirteen makes sense. It's like he was a counterbalance to the Fallen. One shall stand, and one shall fall. It was also said that Thirteen would return to us when our need was greatest."

Arcee leaned back in her chair and shrugged. "We sure could have used him a long time ago. We needed him during the Quintesson invasion, the first energon shortage, and we sure could have used him during the Decepticon uprising."

I didn't have anything to say to that. There were a lot of ancient stories on Earth that told of great heroes or saviors returning; or of warriors of prophecy arising in the first place. That made me think of Sensei and Yori at Yamanuchi. They still didn't know Ron was alive. I needed to tell them, but I wasn't sure of how to convince Agent Fowler. I decided to sleep on that one. There was no way I had the bandwidth to figure that problem out tonight.

Then I though about Ron's other friends. None of them knew he was alive, either. That wasn't fair to them or to Ron.

"Kim?"

I glanced up to see Arcee giving me a concerned look. "Sorry, Arcee. I've got a lot on my mind right now."

"Join the club," the blue Autobot said. "By the way, we're all glad you're staying on permanently. We all got used to having you around. None of us were looking forward to you going back to Global Justice."

* * *

It was well after midnight when I dragged my father out of the repair bay. He wasn't happy with the idea of going home before he was done, but I knew that Mom would have been even less happy about him spending the night on an alien ship.

I said before that I'm not much of a drinker. My dad will have the occasional beer, and my mom a glass of wine every now and then. When we got home, Dad went right for the fridge and got out a bottle of his favorite microbrew. He thought for a moment, and grabbed a second. He popped the tops on both and handed me one. "Have a drink with your old man, Kimmie-Cub," he said.

I accepted the brew, even though I was naver a big fan of beer, and took a seat. We both drank in silence for a while. "This is going to be harder than I thought," he finally said. "Trying to imprint the Hephaestus protocols on metal that doesn't even exist on the periodic table... I know I always say that anything is possible for a Possible, but this time I think I may have bitten off more than I can chew."

None of us were the same after Diablo night. Dad was hit harder than most. He was dragged before board meetings and Senate hearings about the Hephaestus leak. If it wasn't for the brain scans that were taken after he was hit by Drakken's brain tap machine, Dad might have wound up in federal prison on conspiracy charges. Those scans may have proved that Dad's memories had been copied, but that didn't save his confidence.

There was more to it than that. After Ron came to me for help at the prom and I turned my back on him, he went to my 'rents and Wade. They all turned him down. Only the Tweebs listened to him. That was how we found out what the Diablo robots actually were. Dad felt guilty about that. He was convinced that Ron wouldn't have died, or in actuality have been captured and tortured, if only they had listened to Ron's warnings. Anything is possible for a Possible, even blaming yourself for the fate of one man.

"I know why you're doing this," I said as I set my drink down on a coaster. "You want to use Hephaestus for something other than destruction."

Dad shook his head. "No. It's not that at all."

* * *

I had promised Wade that I would pick him up at the airport when his flight came in, but I was going to have to break that promise. Not for any bad reasons, though. Since Wade was going to be doing consulting work for Unit E, Agent Fowler managed to line up a military transport to bring Wade from Middleton directly to the base. No flying commercial to Los Vegas International, and no three hour drive to Sin City to Jasper, Nevada. That would be a good thing for the casinos in the Vegas strip. I could totally see Wade hacking all the slot machines to pay out huge jackpots to everyone playing.

Besides, with my dad, a civilian, running loose aboard the _Ark,_ I was elected to be his keeper. That meant that Spike and Bumblebee would be the ones to meet with Wade when he got in, get him settled in his temporary accommodations, and then bring him to the _Ark._ He had just lifted off from the Army base outside of Upperton, so Wade had a good two hours in the air. I would probably see him in about four hours if I was lucky.

Spike would take Wade directly to Agent Fowler who would get Wade all of the clearances he would need to act as a consultant and get official access to all of Unit E's databases. After that, and after he had been settled in, I knew that Wade would go see Ron before he got to work. Assuming, of course, that Ron would let Wade visit.

While Dad and Ratchet worked to get the Hephaestus project to work on Cybertronian metals, I did some digging. Since I was officially Unit E now, I had unfettered access to all of the intel at their disposal. Well, that was the idea, anyway. All of the Section 7 files were beyond encrypted. I really didn't want to talk to Seymour Simmons about getting access, but, as I said before, I had no clue when Wade would be getting here to hack his way in.

So I put that on the back burner. I really could not stand Agent Simmons. He was one of those pervs who counted down the days until I was eighteen and legal. The few times I had dealt with him as part of Global Justice were not pleasant. Those uniforms were really tight, and this creepo was trying to see exactly _how_ tight. I did "accidentally" kick him when he was pretending not to check out my butt. He claimed he was tying his shoe right behind me, but his face was almost touching my rear. He deserved worse than the broken nose he got! My "repromand" from Dr. Director was a request to kick him harder next time.

Yes, the Section 7 intel would be useful, but I wanted to put that call off until I absolutely had to make it. Instead I used what we already knew. The stasis pod carrying Sideways crashed in Siberia back in 1908. We don't know when or where BlackArachnia's pod came down, but it had been moved all over the contiguous United States for at least the last thirty years.

The nucleon was discovered in the jungles of Peru back in 1815. No one knew what it was, so it was locked away as a curiosity. So we had Peru, Siberia, and somewhere in the United States. That didn't tell me much, but it gave me places to start looking.

My hunch was that these items were all sent to Earth on purpose. Why, I don't know, but so far this was as good an idea as any. I was going to suggest that the crash sites be searched again for other artefacts. Think of it as a delivery from one of those internet stores. If you're buying multiple items, it's usually cheaper to ship it all together. By that reasoning, there may be other "packages" waiting at those crash sites. I could be wrong, but it was all I had until Wade got there.

There were other issues, as well. I didn't know when the nucleon and the stasis pod were launched from Cybertron, or where the two planets were in their orbits or rotations. My dad could do orbital mechanics in his sleep, but he was working with Ratchet on the Hephaestus problem. I'd say I was on my own, but I did have help.

"Teletraan-1," I said, activating the computer's verbal interface. "Over how many years were payloads launched to Earth from Cybertron?"

"4.7 million stellar cycles," the computer answered, "or 4.2 million Earth years."

That was a long time. "Were these payloads sent to predetermined spots on the planet?"

"Unknown," the computer replied. "Many of those files were encrypted or deleted by order of Alpha Trion."

Well that didn't help. "Okay, how about this; did these payloads home in on locator beacons?"

"Unknown," Teletraan-1 said again. "Many of those files-"

"I know, many of those files were encrypted or deleted by order of Alpha Trion." I sighed and slumped back in my chair. I had been hoping that we could find other deliveries from Cybertron before the Decepticons or Mech could get their greedy mits on them, but Optimus Prime's old boss from the Hall of Records was making my job difficult. On the other hand, he was doing the same for Megatron and Silas. This was going to be a lot harder than I thought, and I went into this thinking it would be impossible!

I rubbed my eyes and tried to clear my head. That was a lot easier said than done, these days. The anniversary of Ron's disappearance was always tough, but this year was tougher. You'd think that finding him alive would help with the self hatred I felt about what happened to him, but it actually made it worse.

Ron was alive, but he had spent the last six years as a prisoner, being tortured. He didn't deserve that. I should have been with him. But as we all know, I had to have my perfect night with my perfectly fake synthodrone date.

 _"You better hope you're right about this. Otherwise losing your best friend isn't the only thing you'll have to wory about!"_ Those words wormed their way out of the vault of my memory and into the front of my brain. Those were the words Monique said to me when Ron stormed out of the gym for his appointment with destiny. And she was right. She couldn't know how right she was, though, even when she followed me outside the gym after my fight with Eric.

She saw me standing there in the rain, holding an arm that was broken in three places. My heart was well and truly shattered. She came up next to me, probably thinking that I was depressed about Eric's betrayal. She learned the truth when I said two words to her. They would be the last two words I would say to her until October of that year.

 _"Ron's dead."_

I zoned out pretty hard, because the sound of Optimus calling my name nearly made me jump out of my chair and fall the fifteen feet to the deck plating below.

"Sorry," I said after I got my heartrate back under control. "What were you saying?"

"I was saying that I saw the search parameters you programmed into Teletraan-1," the Autobot leader said. "I'm authorizing those parameters to be loaded into the onboard computers of a fleet of Sky Spy satellites. We'll search those areas for any more potential payloads from Cybertron."

Optimus stood silently for a moment. I could tell that he was marshalling his thoughts, trying to figure out a way of articulating something that was on his mind. "Tell me something," he finally said. "You used to track fugitives and stolen technology. How would you attempt to find someone who was completely covering their trail?"

"Are you asking me if I can find BlackArachnia?" He didn't need to answer. I knew. "Ratchet said that her techno-organic state made her invisible to scans for her life signal and energy signature."

Optimus nodded. "Go on."

"I'm assuming that your scans are for technologically based life only."

"Yes. We had no idea that carbon based life was even possible until the debacle that turned BlackArachnia into what she is now." Optimus approached my work station. "What are you suggesting?"

"Scan for her unique bio-signature." In a perfect world I would have had the computer skills to set up a search like that, but that was a job I would normally leave to Wade, and, as I said before, I probably had at least four hours until he was here and ready to work. As it turned out, I didn't need Wade's help for this.

Optimus Prime spoke up. "Teletraan-1, set up a search for the following bio-signature..."

I grinned as Optimus programmed the _Ark's_ super computer to find the missing Cybertronian. I expected Optimus to thank me and return to his office. Instead he invited me to take a drive with him.

* * *

Jasper's backroads were pretty barren. There was asphault, cacti, and the occasional tumbleweed, but that was it. Sure we'd see a passing car here and there, but for the most part it was just the two of us.

I sat in the passenger seat of Optimus' vehicle mode. His holomatter avatar, a man in his early seventies with salt and pepper hair and matching mustache, was in the driver's seat. The faux driver was pretty convincing. The head moved like he was checking his mirrors and blind spots, and he kept his hands on the wheel. If I didn't know better, I'd say that there was a flesh and blood person driving this semi.

"You haven't asked about my past with BlackArachnia," Optimus finally said.

"It's not my business."

The holomatter avatar looked over at me and gave me a warm smile. "Unfortunately, both of our species suffer from... nosiness."

I returned the smile. "I am curious," I admitted, "but I also figured that if you wanted me to know, you would tell me yourself."

"Thank you." Optimus grew silent again. "This is an old and painful story. Do you remember me telling you about the caste system that once existed on Cybertron? It was started by a group called the Functionalists during the early Golden Age. They believed that Primus had planned our roles for us before our sparks came online, and that the default alternate modes programmed into our T-cogs when we emerged from the Well were what our intended roles were to be, despite the fact that we could scan new vehicle modes whenever we wished.

"I came online long before this. Had I not, I would have been a cargo hauler. My original alt mode was not unlike the one I currently use. The Functionalists wouldn't have let me become one of the intellectuals or let me be an archivist at the Hall of Records."

"That tanks," was all I could think to say.

Optimus continued. "Nova Prime rode to power through the Functionalists, and instituted the caste system. Many applauded it, but they were the ones who would not be forced into menial labor. When Nova was toppled and Sentinel Prime succeeded him, the new Prime promised to do away with the castes."

"I take it he didn't."

"He did for Ariel." Optimus again grew quiet. I knew this was tough for him. Kind of like how talking to people about Ron was for me. "Ariel worked at the Iacon Dock, loading cargo and supplies aboard starships headed out towards the colony worlds. Her alt mode was a crane, so that was the only job she could get. One day there was a labor dispute between Ariel's crew and the bot overseeing them. Ariel knew the law was on her side, but needed proof."

"So she went to the Iacon Archives to look them up," I guessed.

"Indeed. None of the other archivists would speak to her because, as a laborer, she was a lower caste. Even though law wasn't my department, I looked up the information she requested, which she took to her supervisor and was able to get better conditions for the rest of her crew. As a way of thanking me, she invited me for drinks at a place called Maccadam's Old Oil House."

"Wait, Ariel asked you out? That is so sweet."

"It was. And I accepted. As a security guard at the archives told me, when a pretty fem asks you out for drinks, you say yes."

That sounded a lot like something Ironhide would say, but I kept that observation to myself. I let Optimus continue his story. Instead of talking, he pulled off when we reached a rock outcropping overlooking a canyon. Once we were off the road he deactivated his avatar, let me out, and transformed.

"This reminds me of the Sonic Canyons back home. It is said that the canyons are a vast array of sensors telling Primus what is going on in the cosmos." Optimus found a place that he would fit and sat down. I took a seat beside him.

"Ariel and I became very close. We decided to share a dwelling, and I had been thinking about asking her to bond with me. Things changed when she saved Sentinel Prime from an assassination attempt at the docks. Sentinel praised her for her bravery, and told the planet that Ariel would be the first Cybertronian to be elevated form her caste. She would also be the last until the Decepticon urising.

"She was reformatted to a soldier, went through Elite Guard training, and took a new name; Elita-1. Even though we still lived together, I saw less and less of her. I admit that I was jealous of the time she was spending with Sentinel Prime."

"Did you tell her this?" I asked.

"Yes. And it led to a fight. A big one. It was the night before she left on a special mission with Sentinel. The one she never returned from."

Things were starting to make sense now. I understood why BlackArachnia was so tweaked at Sentinel Prime for changing her and locking her up, but I didn't understand how Megatron could manipulate her into wanting to kill Optimus. I mean, I get it, the leader of the Decepticons would be a master at the art of the lie, and that BlackArachnia's processor would be a bit scrambled after everything, but it was a big jump from wanting to scrap Sentinel to wanting to scrap Optimus.

I placed my hand on the big bot's. "I am so sorry, Optimus."

He looked down at me and slid his mouth plate open. "I knew you of all people would understand." He returned his gaze to the canyon below. "I want to find her. I need to find her. But we didn't part on the best of terms, and after what happened to her... I'm afraid she might not be the same bot I wanted to give my spark to all those stellar cycles ago."

"It won't be easy," I said. "It hasn't been easy for me. You and Ariel had a fight, but it doesn't sound planet shattering. I turned my back on my best friend, and he was tortured for six years because of it. He and I weren't even together! He has every reason to hate me."

"But you love him."

"I love him so much it hurts," I said. "There's this emptiness in my soul that's only filled when I'm with him."

"That is how my spark feels," Optimus said. "I don't know if there is any way of turning her back into what she was, or if Ariel is truly lost to me forever. But I have to do what I can to save her. I at least need to keep her from Megatron's reach. I fear what lies he may use to twist her mind to his cause."

"Then we'll find her," I said. "And if there's anything you need from me, anything at all, just ask."

* * *

Optimus had programmed the Sky Spies to hunt for any trace of other artifacts at the known crash sites of where Cybertron tech had been found, and he was trying to see if he could break through Alpha Trion's encryptions. But as Optimus said to me, "Alpha Trion taught me everything I know, but not everything _he_ knew." Even for Optimus, this could take a while.

For now, all I could do was wait, and I decided to do that back at base. Besides, I had yet to see Ron today, and when you're trying to rebuild a friendship, every second of every minute counts. When I got to Ron's room, he was looking really down. He had a bowl of nachos that he was ignoring, so I knew something was very wrong.

"I haven't seen you look this upset since they cancelled _Snowman Hank,"_ I said as I walked in. "What's the sitch? Is everything okay?"

Ron sat in silence for what seemed like forever. "I gotta get out of here," he said. "I feel cooped up! And I've been cooped up for years! I mean, I do get to go outside, but all I see is the base! I want to see trees and grass! I'd even settle for a garden gnome, and you know how I feel about those!"

Ron let out a deep sigh and squeezed his eyes shut. "Maybe this is all that's left for me," he finally said. "The world went on without me. You became a super spy, my 'rents adopted another kid, the O Boyz broke up, a _Zombie Mayhem_ film series started up, they rebooted _Bricks of Fury_ , and the world went on. Will Du was right."

That scared me. "Ron, think about what you just said! You said that Will was right!"

"He is, though!" Ron looked at me with a defeated look in his eyes. "I'm legally dead. I may be breathing, but I'm still a dead man as far as anyone knows."

"Not for much longer." We both looked up and saw the source of that declaration when he walked into the room, wearing that same ill fitting suit he always wore. "I'm sorry to interrupt. It's an honor to finally meet you, Ron. I'm William Fowler, the agint-in-charge of Unit E. I would have visited sooner, but there have been a lot of developments taking up most of my time."

Ron looked at his lap. "S'okay."

"As I was saying," Fowler continued, "I've been working with the Social Security Administration to get your SSN reactivated, and with all of the various agencies who can get you, legally, back among the living. You'll be back in the world again before the week is out."

I smiled. "That's great news, Agent Fowler. Thank you."

Fowler shrugged. "Hey, it's the least I can do." He looked over at Ron. "You gave up your life to ensure that people like me didn't wind up under the boot of a mad dictator like Dr. Drakken, son. The least I can do is give you that life back." Fowler then looked over at me. "Kim, I'll need a list of Ron's closest friends. I figured we can bring them here so they can get a sneak preview of his triumphant return before we make the formal annoucement."

"I'm on it." I knew of four people right off the top of my head. One would be easy, the other three, not so much; two because they were foreign nationals and one because he hadn't spoken to me since Diablo Night. Anything is possible for a Possible, though, even breaking down international barriers and at least letting Yori and Sensei know that the Monkey Master was alive and well.

On the downside, getting Felix Renton to give me the time of day might be the exception to that rule. I would save that one for last. First on the list would be Monique.

* * *

The best laid plans always seemed to have a way of falling apart. In this case, I hadn't even made a concrete plan yet! I had gotten an alert from Teletraan-1 about a possible BlackArachnia sighting, at the same time that we got a report of Decepticon activity in the same region. I would be heading back to Oklahoma, right back to the Section 7 depot in Nowhere. Here's the other way things fell apart; the report came directly from Agent Simmons, who just happened to be at said depot. It was a good thing my new power suit wasn't super skin tight. The last thing I wanted weas him undressing me with his eyes again. I really hated that guy.

I was again riding in Ironhide. The groundbridge let us off right at the heart of the action, and what we saw was worse than the last attack. Devastator was back in full effect, and we had the Seekers buzzing the base. Megatron was nowhere to be seen, nor was BlackArachnia.

Kup and Bulkhead were flanking Ironhide, with Optimus Prime and Arcee taking the lead, and Windblade strafing targets from above. The Decepticons had multiple fliers and we only had one, and our flier had no ordnance. Fortunately for us she had a knack for fancy flying, and a need to avenge Sideways. I was more worried about Starscream and his cronies than I was about 'Blade.

I looked back at the gargantuan green combiner. I was more than a little worried about the rest of us, though. I doubted that my suit's shields could stand up to being stepped on by something that big.

"You wanna know the secret to takin' down a combiner?" Ironhide asked. "If you cut 'em off at the knees, they get shorter. And if that don't work, just remember that there's six brains in there tryin' to run one body. A few mind games might not be a bad idea."

I jumped out of Ironhide's truck mode without him coming to a stop. My suit was already powered up and my shields were at full. I tucked and rolled, and came to my feet in one smooth motion. Ironhide, Kup and Bulkhead transformed and started taking pot shots at Devastator.

The Constructicons were once hailed as engineering geniuses back on Cybertron. They experimented on themselves, trying to prove a pet hypothesis called "mass intellect," which is basically merging the minds and bodies of multiple 'bots into one gestalt whole. They were inspired by the legends of Nexus Prime, who could split himself into five fully sentient and individual robot components, and then recombine. The Constructicons didn't quite get it right.

On their own Scrapper, Hook, Bonecrusher, Scavenger, Long Haul, and Mixmaster were brilliant, but joined as Devastator they were about as intelligent as the Incredible Hulk throwing a temper tantrum. The fact that Devastator was so huge made it even worse.

The giant Transformer swatted Bulkhead away, sending the big guy flying like a discarded toy into the side of a building. Ironhide was knocked back by blaster fire, and Kup was knocked over and pinned under debris when Devastator stomped his foot. Great. With Optimus and Arcee trying to find BlackArachnia and/or Megatron, and Windblade keeping the Seekers busy, it was up to me. Hopefully it turned out better than last time.

I knew my suit's weapon systems wouldn't even scratch Devastator's paint job, so cutting him off at the knees wouldn't work. It was going to have to be mind games. I channeled my best Ron Stoppable impersonation, and set a plan in motion.

Devastator was the first modern combiner, but not the only one. The Decepticons had other combiner teams; the Predacons (Predaking), the Combaticons (Bruticus), the Terrorcons (Abominus), and the Stunticons (Menasor).

The Autobots had fewer teams. There were the Aerialbots (Superoin), the Protectobots (Defensor), and the Technobots (Computron). The things that all those teams had in common were that they were five bot teams instead of six, and the leader formed the main body and head. That wasn't the case with Devastator.

The Constructicon commanding officer was a 'bot named Scavanger, who transformed into a bulldozer. He was also Devastator's right leg. Hook, who transformed into a crane, was Devastator's upper body and head. It was time to use that information to my advantage.

"Hey! Gargantuan, green and ugly! Down here!" I was waving my arms around like crazy to get the big guy's attention.

He looked down at me. "Human germ," he said.

"Ooh, big insult! How bad did you tax your processor on that one?" _Be irritating. Annoy this guy like Ron would annoy the bad guys. Get him off balance._ "Hey, Scavanger! How does it feel knowing that your whole team is walking all over you?!"

I was knocked off balance by the thunderous footsteps of the combiner. "Think about it! You're a leg! They literally walk all over you! You're the leader, so why aren't you the head?" Devastator stopped moving. "I mean, even that nutcase Motormaster gets to be Menasor's head! Same with Razorclaw with Predaking, Onslaught with Bruticus, and even Hun-Gurr with Abominus! You're the odd one out! You're the loser!"

That did it! Devastator broke apart, transforming back into his constituent parts, who were now at each other's throats.

"Nice move, Kim," Ironhide said, pulling himself to his feet. "This makes it a lot easier!" He fired off six shots, one for each Constructicon, taking them down.

"Mind games," I said with a smile. "It worked. Too bad Ron wasn't here. He could have really gotten under their plates!"

Ironhide surveyed the area. Kup and Bulkhead were back online and were firing at the Seekers while Windblade kept them busy. "I'm gonna go help the others out."

I nodded. "I'll see where Optimus and Arcee went, and try to figure out what the Decepticons are up to here."

* * *

I ran at top speed, letting the power suit amplify my speed and agility. I was running at about twenty five miles per hour, homing in on Arcee's life signal.

"Possible to Arcee, what's the sitch?"

"No sitch," Arcee said. "No 'Con activity, and no sign of any spiders. Optimus, how about you?"

"I have a visual on BlackArachnia. And Megatron."

"Scrap," Arcee said. "Kim, I'm coming to you. Prime, we're on our way."

"Belay that, Arcee! I have-" A loud explosion cut Optimus off.

Arcee was in mission mode. "Kim, I'm on my way!"

* * *

Not even five minutes later Arcee and I pulled up to a standoff. BlackArachnia was in her robot mode. Two of her spider mode legs were over her shoulder and glowing. Optimus had his blasters trained on Megatron, who was readying his own fusion cannon.

Optimus was down. His armor was cracked in places and missing in others. The glass from his vehicle mode windshields on his chest were shattered, and the grille on his abdomen was mangled, the delicate machinery underneath sparking.

The big bot had gotten his licks in on the Decepticon leader, because Megatron's helmet was broken in places and his face was covered in cracks that were bleeding energon. Unfortunately, he was ready to deliver the killing blow. He aimed his cannon at Optimus' face.

"I would have waited an eternity for this," he hissed. "It's over, Prime."

"So not!" I didn't really like to use them, but my suit did have blasters. I activated the one on my right gauntlet and fired off a shot, knocking Megatron's aim off. The Decepticon leader's blast just grazed Prime's shoulder, splintering his smokestack.

"Well, look who's here," Megatron sneered. "Arcee, and your new pet human." Megatron turned his crimson eyed gaze to me. "I have studied you, Kim Possible. You should feel honored; no mere fleshling has ever intrigued me so much as you."

I got off Arcee and powered up another blast. Arcee transformed and did the same. "I took your pet combiner down without firing a shot," I said. "Imagine what I can do to you."

Megatron didn't respond to the threat. "I must hand it to you, Optimus, you certainly know how to find spirited allies." He then turned to BlackArachnia. "And you, my dear, what are we to do with you? Optimus would imprison you, as his predecessor did. I would work to cure you; to purge you of your organic contamination!"

"How about I contaminate you instead, shark face?" I growled. All this organic life bashing was seriously getting me tweaked.

Optimus waved me back. "There is no need for this, Megatron." He turned to his lost love. "BlackArachnia, I would never lock you up, chain you, or force you into stasis. You should know that after all we went through together."

"I remember you being jealous," the spider woman spat. "I remember you making accusations!"

"Not of you," Optimus clarified. "Of Sentinel. And yes, I was jealous. I admit that. I thought Sentinel was trying to steal you away!"

The Decepticon leader started to laugh. "How precious! A lover's quarrel! Optimus, my old friend, you never told me of her during our past friendship."

Optimus faltered a little. "I had lost you, Ariel," he said. "There was a hole in my spark. Speaking of you hurt. I buried myself in my work and buried my feelings, but I never forgot you."

"You see how all Primes lie!" Megatron countered.

BlackArachnia was confused and angry. "Optimus isn't lying to you," I said. I opened my visor and faceplate, leaving the rest of the helmet in place for protection, and so my suit could translate Cybertronian (BlackArachnia hadn't assimilated English yet, so that's what everyone was speaking. A device on my throat translated my speech for BlackArachnia). "He told me the whole story. He still loves you!"

"What would a disgusting thing like you know of love?" BlackArachnia spat. I let the insult slide.

"I'm a human being, and we feel it, too. There is one who I loved and lost. A piece of me was taken away when I lost him. I have him back now, even though we're still not on the best of terms. But I know how it feels, BlackArachnia! I know the confusion of betrayal, I know the hurt, and I know what loss is.

"I'm not from Cybertron. I wasn't there when these things happened. But Optimus, _Orion_ , has saved my life and the lives of people I love. He would never betray you or anyone!"

"Then your dear Optimus Prime has lied to you as well, human," Megatron said. "For you see, Orion Pax betrayed me back on Cybertron, and that act was what sparked the civial war and led to Cybertron's shutdown!" He turned to BlackArachnia. "Your former lover destroyed our homeworld! Join me, and you can avenge yourself on him, and on all Autobots!"

BlackArachnia let out a shriek and transformed. "Get away from me! All of you!"

Megatron brought his weapon to bear, but Arcee was faster, firing off a quick volley of energon blasts, knocking the fusion cannon from the Decepticon leader's arm. Optimus motioned for Arcee to lower his weapons, and then retracted his own.

"Stand down, Megatron. This fight is over." He looked over at BlackArachnia and opened his mouth plate. "You have nothing to fear from me or the Autobots, BlackArachnia. We will not hunt you."

"Why should I believe you?" the spider demanded.

"Believe me then, darlin,'" another voice said. Ironhide came up with his weapons trained on Megatron. "I was the one who told our boy here that when a pretty femme asks you out for drinks, you say yes. I never lied to you, Ariel."

Megatron let out a growl. "I see reinforcements have arrived." He then looked to the sky. "And yet again, Starscream has failed me."

Bulkhead and Kup pulled up and transformed. "This is it, bucket head," Bulk stated, bringing his weapons online.

Ironhide, meanwhile, was helping Optimus to his feet. "Stand down, Megatron," he said, still sounding strong despite his injuries.

"Or what?" Megatron spat. "You don't have the bearings to do what must be done."

"He never did," BlackArachnia spat. Her spider legs started to glow again and she fired a blast at Optimus, knocking him down. Megatron used the confusion to call for a ground bridge of his own and escape. BlackArachnia transformed and took off.

"No you don't!" I took off after the spider.

"Kim, come back!" I heard Kup shout, but I wasn't going to stop. I took off in a dead sprint, trying to keep up with the cybernetic arachnid. Fortunately for me, I had a few tricks up my sleeve, like a special tracking dart in my left gauntlet. I took aim and fired, nailing her right on her big spider biscuit, next to the spinnerets.

* * *

Eight legs are faster than two, despite my suit enhancing my speed, so I had to break off the chase. All I could do was hope that the tracker I nailed BlackArachnia with would stay put so we could find her later.

I got back to the Section 7 base twenty minutes after the battle royale just in time to come face to face with one of my least favorite people. Seymour Simmons, scum bag extraordinaire. My helmet had been retracted by that point, so he recognized me immediately and made a beeline to me.

"Kimmie!" he said. His dark eyes were shining, and I could see his lizard grin underneath that big nose of his. His short, curly hair had more grey in it than it did the last time I saw him. He was looking me over like I was a slab of beef. "I prefer your old uniform. It was more eye popping."

"Keep it up and I'll pop your nose again," I growled. I saw Agent Fowler coming right for us. Simmons didn't.

"So when did you sign up with the walking Erector Sets?" Simmons asked. "If I'd known you'd joined, I would have requested that you be put under my command."

"And you'd have been turned down flat!" Agent Fowler declared.

Simmons groaned, made a face, then put on a fake smile. "Bill! You're looking good."

"Cut the crap, Seymour," Fowler demanded. "I want to know why we've had two Decepticon attacks here in the span of a week, and why a piece of Cybertronian tech was sent here without me being notified!" S

"Well, Bill, as the head of Section 7, I didn't think it was important."

Fowler got right in Simmons' face. "Section 7 is part of Unit E, and as such, it and you are under my command. Understand? And by failing to follow the chain of command and notify me about that stasis pod, you put your people, and maybe every man woman and child on this planet, in danger!"

"Well how was I supposed to know some psycho spider was going to pop out of that thing?"

I rubbed my eyes. Same old Simmons. He could never take responsibility for his own screw ups. I turned to Fowler. "Where are the Autobots?"

"Most of them bridged back to the _Ark_ with Prime. Arcee is here waiting for you. Head back to base for a debrief."

"Yes, sir," I said. Then I looked over at Simmons. I wanted to stay and watched him get dragged over the coals, but there wasn't time for that. I couldn't resist a taking a dig at him on my way out, though. "By the way, your nose looks bigger. I guess the surgeons didn't repair it right after that unfortunate incident the last time I saw you."

* * *

When I got back to the _Ark_ , Optimus was in the repair bay getting his armor welded up. "I was able to put a tracker on BlackArachnia. Maybe between that and the scanning protocols we came up with, we can find her again."

Optimus was quiet while Ratchet continued to work. "No," he finally said. "We will not track her movements or try to apprehend her. Deactivate the device, Kim."

"What?" I demanded. "Optimus, we know where she is!"

"And the Decepticons may be able to find that tracking signal and manipulate her into their ranks," Optimus countered. "I will not do anything to lead her down Megatron's path."

That made Ratchet look up. "Are you sure that's wise, Optimus. BlackArachnia is an unknown variable in an already volatile situation. Her cyber venom alone makes her extremely dangerous."

"Then that makes it paramount that you use the venom samples you retrieved from me a little while ago, as well as from our last encounter, to develop an anti-venom." Optimus was silent for a moment. "She already mistrusts us. I will not give her any more reason for that mistrust. We'll leave her be until she is ready to come to us."

"What if she never is?" I asked.

"Then we hope that Megatron doesn't get his claws into her and turn her to his cause." Optimus looked at me, his blue optics glowing with conviction. "Freedom is the right of all sentient beings, Kim. That means having the right to make mistakes. I will not take that right away from BlackArachnia, even if that means she comes to wear the Face of the Fallen as all Decepticons do." He lowered his head. "Even if I have to face her on the field of battle."

He was right. I turned the tracker off.

* * *

I was pleasantly surprised to see Rhinox in the repair bay. He was surrounded by various pieces of equipment, and was standing in a large depression that had been made in the bay's far corner. It looked like an Olympic swimming pool.

"Hey, Professor," I said. He green Maximal turned to look at me.

"Kim! It's good to see you!" He climbed out of the pit. "You must excuse me, but Ratchet asked for my expertise when it came to CR technology."

I looked at the pit. "Is that what this is?"

"It's a variation on the Predacon CR tank," Rhinox explained. "You see, your dad and Ratchet learned that trying to imprint the Hephaestus protocols on Cybertronium metal wasn't going to work. But it would bond with energon in its liquid form. So the plan is to fill this tank with Hephaestus-energon. That combination would be seeded with the cyber nucleic acid of whomever was going to use it, and that would allow for integration of extra material for complete bodily regeneration."

My lips curled into my first genuine smile all day. "So you can save Sideways?"

"That's the hope. We'll finds out when Bumblebee gets back. We're hoping he'll be our test subject."

* * *

Bumblebee was still at Unit E headquarters when I got back. Agent Fowler, however, was not. I so wanted to be a fly on the wall so I could see Fowler ripping Simmons a new one. That creep so deserved it.

When I got to my office, I saw my new office mate setting up his work station. I smiled again when he looked over at me. "Hey, Wade," I said as I went over to hug him. "It is so good to see you."

"You too, Kim," he said. "I hope you don't mind me moving in."

"Mind? It was my idea!" I went over to my desk. On my computer I punched up a set of coordinates. "I need you to do something for me. I need you to write a tracking routine based around these coordinates, and these parameters." I typed in the information on BlackArachnia's bio-signature. Optimus might not keep an eye on her, but I would. I wanted to make sure she didn't wind up in Megatron's claws, and I would do it in such a way that the 'Cons wouldn't be able to find her.

"That's easy," the young genius replied. He seemed upset.

"Ron didn't want to see you." It was a statement, not a question.

"No."

I put my hand on Wade's shoulder. "Don't take it too hard. The only people he sees without hesitation are my brothers and his sister." Wade nodded. "He doesn't even really like seeing me, and that does hurt, but we have to give him time." A thought came to my mind. "Would you excuse me?"

* * *

"Come in." Doctor Greer's voice was calm and welcoming as always. "Kim! This is a surprise. What can I do for you?"

"It's about that sword," I said. "The one with the Arishikage clan's symbol on it. Where did you get that?"

* * *

I returned to my office to find Wade hard at work on something. He looked up at me when I came in. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, just thinking." I went over to my computer and looked up Sumdac Systems. It was a robotocs firm in Detroit. It was also where an old friened was working on cyber-robotic prostheses and mobility assistance devices. His office number was listed on the website. I picked up my office phone and dialed. The line rang three times before it was picked up. This was it. I hadn't planned on making this call now, but I needed to do it first. It was like rippingoff a band-aid.

"Felix Renton," the voice said.

"Hey, Felix, it's Kim Possible..."

* * *

 _ **Next Chapter: Reunions**_

 _ **Author's Note: Again, I apologize for the gap between updates. Let's just say Waveform's been a busy boy. But I'm still working on this, and I won't stop until the story is done.**_


	13. Chapter 13

_**Kim Possible and all related characters are the property of Disney. Transformers and all related characters are the property of Hasbro.**_

 _ **The Transformers used will be a mixture of Generation 1, Beast Wars, the IDW Comics series (which is fantastic, by the way), the Aligned Continuity (The**_ **Prime** _ **and**_ **Robots in Disguise** _ **TV series and the Fall of Cybertron and War for Cybertron video games), and a smattering of**_ **The Unicron Trilogy (Armada, Energon,** _ **and**_ **Cybertron)** _ **and**_ **Animated** _ **.**_

* * *

For the second time in my life, I felt the world crumbling all around me. As I stood in the remains of the hospital room in Unit E's infirmary, looking at the demolished wall and the empty and overturned bed, I was transported back in time six years.

I was standing in the rain outside the Middleton High gym, the agony of my shattered heart overpowering the pain from my broken right arm. He was gone again, and it was my fault. It had to be my fault.

My name is Kim Possible. I'm an agent with Unit E, currently assigned to the Autobots, and my best friend Ron Stoppable was in the clutches of the Decepticons.

"What the hell was that?!"

I looked over at Felix Renton, who was holding my best girlfriend Monique's hand while Nurse June Darby bandaged up the large cut over Mon's left eye. Felix wheeled over to me. The fear and rage in his eyes was unmistakable, and it was directed right at me.

"Didn't you hear what I said? What the hell was that thing?! It looked like a giant robot bat!"

Ratbat. One of Soundwave's Mini-Con goons. That was how I knew Megatron had Ron right now, and how I knew it was my fault. The last time I saw the Decepticon leader, he had told me that he researched me. And me, trying to get through to a confused techno-organic Cybertronian named BlackArachnia, talked about how I had just gotten someone I loved back.

It figures, you know. Even in death, no one got Ron's name right, but Wade and I did our best to make sure someone somewhere got the right name. Megatron had to have found it, and then he decided to get at me by coming here and stealing Ron away.

I looked at Felix, and then at Monique. She had that same look of terrified fear that I was sure I had. Then I turned and left.

"Where do you think you're going?" Felix demanded.

I stopped, but didn't look over my shoulder. "I'm going to find Ron."

* * *

Twenty-four hours earlier, things were a lot different. I was facing off against a man wearing a head to toe black bodysuit that hid everything. We were circling each other, looking for an opportunity to attack.

This was the most intense fight of my life, and no one had thrown a single punch. We had been sizing each other up for the better part of twenty minutes, moving a few steps forward or back, or left and right. We were trying to get in each other's heads, to see if we could anticipate when the other would attack.

The full face mask and visor didn't give him an advantage over me. I had faced masked adversaries before. It was the fact that I couldn't get a read on his body language that was the problem. I had no idea what he was thinking, or when he was going to move. Normally in a fight you can see muscles tense, or any small movement. Not this guy. He could stay unnaturally still.

That was also his method of unnerving me. I wanted to move, but I didn't. I knew that, if I tried to strike, he would be able to take me out. So we stood and we waited. The problem was, I knew that I would break the pattern before he did. It was my nature. I had to move, I had to act. I was fighting myself as much as I was fighting him.

Turned out, I was wrong. In the blink of an eye, he was moving. A flurry of punches and kicks came at me, and I did my best to block them all. I would get tagged here and there, and it stung like hell, even though they were just glancing blows! This guy was better than anyone else I had ever faced.

Instead of blocking, I dodged. I back flipped then rolled to my right, trying to get behind him. I swept at his legs and was able to get him off balance, but he recovered more quickly than I could have imagined. He was back on his feet and coming after me. I rolled again and tried to handspring back into a fighting stance. I just barely missed being hit in the solar plexus.

I caught his hand and tried to get him in a hold, but he wormed his way out. Then, in a lightning fast move, he swept my legs out and pulled my arm in a hold behind me. I was trapped. So I did what I normally don't do. I tapped out.

My opponent released me, then helped me to my feet. We bowed to each other, and then I went to the corner of the dojo and collapsed. I was breathing like I had just run a marathon. The man in black came over to me with a bottle of water, which I accepted gratefully.

Applause from the other side of the room made me look up. A woman with even redder hair than mine in a combat uniform came over, and then put an arm around the man in black. "Agent Possible, that was impressive," she said. "I have never seen anyone last that long without attacking."

The man in black gave a nod, agreeing. His mask had a visor that, I assumed, gave him full peripheral vision. He also had the symbol of the Arishikage ninja clan on his right shoulder. I had just faced off against Snake Eyes, one of the greatest martial artists who had ever lived. I could scratch a big one off my bucket list!

"I haven't had a sparring session like that in a long time," I said after finally getting my breath back. "Not since before Diablo Night." I never realized how good of shape fighting Shego kept me in.

Snake Eyes offered me his hand and helped me up. He was a legend in the martial arts and counter terrorism communities. He had been part of G.I. Joe for a long time, and had served alongside Dr. Greer. In fact, he was the one who gave Dr. Greer that ninja sword when the good doctor retired from the Joe team.

The three of us went over to a table outside the dojo and sat down. "So, Agent Possible," the other redhead, a woman codenamed Scarlet said, "what brings you to The Pit."

I looked over at Snake Eyes. The man was mute. I didn't know if it was intentional or if something had happened that had stolen his voice, like what had happened to Bumblebee. That's what Scarlet was there for. She had known Snake Eyes long enough to know his every subtle move. She could interpreter for him.

"Have you heard the legend of the Ultimate Monkey Master?" I asked.

Snake Eyes stiffened, then turned to Scarlet. She stood up.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"I know he has secrets he can't tell me," she said. She slid a pen and a pad of paper over to the man in black. "This needs to be a private discussion between you two."

After she left, I looked at Snake Eyes again. "Ron Stoppable, the Monkey Master, is alive," I said. "I need to convince Agent Fowler to let me tell Master Sensei at Yamanuchi. They deserve to know."

* * *

Three hours later I was back in Agent Fowler's office, getting the final okay. "I normally wouldn't approve this," he said. "But if Snake Eyes vouches for them, then that's good enough for me. I just wish I knew how you managed this."

I rubbed my shoulder. "A sparring session that showed me how out how practice I am."

Agent Fowler chuckled. "You're braver than I am. I was a Ranger, so I know how to fight. Even when I was in my prime I wouldn't want to go up against Snake Eyes." He sat back in his chair. "What about the others on your list?"

"Monique is in. She's still living in Middleton, but she can work from anywhere, so getting her out here is no big deal. Felix Renton is a different story."

Fowler looked over the information I had provided. "Well, Sumdac Systems is a contractor for our medical facilities. Isaac Sumdac isn't much for developing military hardware, but life saving equipment for the troops is a different matter. And considering that Mr. Renton works on cyber-robotic prosthetics, you'd think we could get him out here to at least take a look at things."

"That would work if he trusted me," I said. "Felix and I stopped talking after Ron vanished. He blamed me for what happened. I would have told him that Ron was alive on the phone if I thought he would have believed me. As it is, it took a lot of convincing that the new information I had about Ron's 'death' was something that could only be discussed in person."

"When are they getting here?"

"Tomorrow morning."

* * *

As was the case with Wade, Monique and Felix were brought directly to the Unit E base. The military transport wasn't as nice as a commercial flight, but it did get here faster. Since she was closer, Monique got there first.

When she stepped off the transport plane with her bag slung over her shoulder, I was struck by the fact that she hadn't changed at all. She still had the same long hair and the same impeccable fashion sense. Today she wore a simple pair of blue jeans and a red shirt that, on her, looked like it was the highest of high fashion. It was probably also something she just grabbed out of her closet.

"Girlfriend!" she shouted when she saw me. Monique dropped her luggage and ran over to me, wrapping me in a huge embrace. "It is so good to see you, Kim!"

"You too!"

Monique backed away to get a good look at me. "I like the new look! Very Agent Scully."

I was wearing one of my new suits; a black knee length skirt, purple blouse, and black jacket. "Agent Scully wore mostly pantsuits, didn't she?" I asked, remembering watching _The X-Files_ on _TV Trash Heap_ with Ron back in the day.

"The early seasons," Monique replied. "Girl, this could be the next installment of my blog. I think I'll call it 'Spy Chic.' I must say, I really like it. I'm still not feeling the short hair, though."

I smiled and ran a hand through my short locks. "Well, now that I'm with DHS, I can let it grow out again."

"Wait, with what? What's DHS?"

I chuckled. "Really? The acronym queen doesn't know that DHS stands for Department of Homeland Security?"

She just waved it off. "Not that I'm not really glad to see you, Kim, but why did you bring me all the way out to the middle of nowhere?"

"That's in Oklahoma, not here in Nevada." Monique gave me a dirty look. "Never mind. I did tell you a little of what this is about."

"You said it had something to do with..." Monique trailed off and started to tear up. What happened to Ron was still hard for her to talk about.

I put a hand on her shoulder. "Yes. This is about Ron. As soon as Felix gets here, we'll get down to business."

Monique nodded and then went to retrieve her luggage. Monique had spent the last several years working as a fashion blogger. Most people thought she would major in fashion design in college, but she ended up majoring in journalism. While in college she started her blog, and it took off. Now she gets paid to write about her passion for fashion, and she gets paid very well. She had done well for herself.

You wouldn't think that it took the two of us five months to speak after Diablo Night. I wasn't avoiding just her, I was avoiding everyone. That October, Monique and my fam staged an intervention to get me back among the living. I'd quit the cheer squad, wasn't doing many missions, and I hadn't signed up for any clubs or activities. Monique got me a job at Club Banana and foced me to start actually interacting with people again.

"So when is the esteemed Mr. Renton getting here?"

"In about two hours." My reunion with Felix would turn out to be as cold as my reunion with Monique was warm. I think you'll understand if I just skip over that part.

* * *

Two hours and forty-five minutes later, we were all gathered in the main conference room. Spike Witwicky was there, and Monique was so checking him out. I almost didn't have the heart to tell her he was married. Almost.

Felix, on the other hand, was shooting me dirty looks and death glares while Spike went over things. Felix hadn't said more than three words to me since getting off the transport.

Felix had changed a lot since graduation. He closed himself off from other people worse than I ever did. Where he was once warm and jovial, he was now cold and aloof. He even looked older than he really was. Felix was only twenty-two but looked like he had the world on his shoulders. It hurt to see him like this.

"Normally we would want you to sign forms agreeing to secrecy about what you're about to see here, but we're going to be revealing all this to the public," Spike told them. "You're just getting a sneak preview."

"Why us?" The irritation in Felix's voice was louder than Megatron's fusion cannon, and more intimidating. "I mean, Mo's a fashion blogger and I work in R&D. We're nobody."

"You're friends of Ron Stoppable," was Spike's reply.

"What does any of this have to do with Ron?" Monique asked. I could tell that she was afraid of the answer.

Spike produced two identical file folders; one for Monique and one for Felix. The files had what we knew about Silas and Mech. There was nothing about the Transformers, though. That was still hush-hush.

Monique scrutinized the face of Leland Bishop, AKA Silas. "This is the guy who killed Ron?"

I stood up and went for the door. "No, but he has killed a lot of people."

Felix closed the file and snarled at me. "So what does this have to do with Ron or us?"

"Amp down, Felix," Monique said.

"It's okay, Monique. The answer is right here." I opened the door and motioned for Ron, who had been waiting outside, to come in.

He sheepishly entered the room, his nerves making him unsteady on his crutches. "Uh, hey, guys," he said. "What's the haps?"

Monique let out a gasp as she brought both hands up to her mouth. Her eyes were wide and tears were streaming down her face. She shakily stood up and took staggering steps towards Ron. "Is it, I mean, how…?"

Instead of waiting for an answer, Monique launched herself at Ron, throwing her arms around him and burying her face in his shoulder. She was visibly sobbing. Ron looked at me with an uncertain expression before returning Mo's embrace.

Felix, on the other hand, simply wheeled his way out of the conference room. I left the happy reunion and went off after Felix.

"Where are you going?" I demanded.

He stopped, but didn't turn around. "This is cold, Possible, even for you."

"This is real, Felix! That was Ron Stoppable back there, alive and in the flesh!"

He let out an annoyed huff. "I don't believe you. That has to be a clone or a synthodrone or something! Ron's dead!"

"Ron's alive, Felix! And if you don't want to believe me, then believe Rufus!"

That made Felix actually turn to face me. "Rufus?"

"Yes! Rufus! He's barely left Ron's side, and if anyone could tell the difference between a real Ron a fake one, it's him!" I walked up to Felix and glared at him. "You have your issues with me, and that's fine, but Ron doesn't need to be brought into the middle of them. He spent the last six years being tortured, nearly to death! He needs all of us right now! He needs his friends."

"Yeah, sure," Felix said. "Look, I need to go and, you know, process this." With that, he wheeled off, leaving me alone and very confused in the hallway. That was not how I expected Ron's reunion with Felix to go.

* * *

Several hours later, Monique knocked on my office door. When she came in, I could see that she had been crying. Her eyes were red and puffy. She gave me a hug then stepped inside.

"Did you have a nice time with Ron?" I asked.

"It was sad," she said. "Six years being tortured..." she trailed off and sat on my couch. "How did he survive?"

"He's strong," I said. "Ron is stronger than anyone ever gave him credit for." I hung my head in shame. "Even me."

Monique just nodded. "So have you, you know, talked to him about things? You know, with you?"

"You mean, have I told I love him? Yes. I hadn't planned on it. It just kind of slipped out. I even showed him the tattoo." I saw the look she was giving me. "Just the tattoo, nothing else," I said. "Look, Monique, he's still trying to come to terms with the fact that he's free. We just got to the point where we're rebuilding our friendship. Do I want more? Yes. But I'm not going to try to force anything. That's not fair to him."

"So what happens after he's back on his feet?"

I smiled. "He can do whatever he wants to do. Ron has his life back now! He can do what he wants and be what he wants."

"And if he doesn't want to be best friends with you anymore?" Monique asked.

I let out a sigh. "Then that's his choice. God knows he would have every right to ditch me after what I did to him."

The truth was, I had thought quite a bit about what Ron would do when he was healed up. I knew there was a possibility that he would leave my life forever. It would kill me, but it would be his choice.

Monique took my hands. "You still haven't forgiven yourself?"

"No," I said. "And I probably never will, even if Ron eventually does. What happened was my fault, just as much as it was Mech's."

Monique gave me a sad look. "That's not healthy, you know."

"I know," I said. "It doesn't change the fact that I feel guilty about what happened to him."

* * *

Later that evening, after Monique and Felix had been dropped off at their hotel in town, I went into Ron's hospital room with a special laptop under my arm. It was time for another reunion, one I knew would be a lot happier than the one with Felix.

When I walked into the room, Ron was sitting there with a hurt look on his face. He turned his gaze to me when I walked in. "Hey, KP."

"You look like someone just ate the last of the cheese," I said as I sat down. "Is it because of Felix bailing?"

"Not really," Ron relied. "I kinda expected that. I mean, he did give me the old 'go away, Ron, you bother me' routine on prom night."

That was news to me. "When was this?"

"Right after I got the brush off from your dad. I called Felix, thinking he and his mom could help with the Diablos, and he basically told me to get bent. In a nicer way, of course. Right about then was when your brothers came out and said they'd help."

It was the Tweebs who helped Ron figure out what Drakken had done with the Hephaestus Project and the Diablos. My brothers were the only ones who did what I should have done. I'll always be thankful to Jim and Tim for helping Ron when I wouldn't; when none of us would. It looked like both of Ron's human best friends abandoned him when he needed us the most.

"So what's wrong?" I asked.

"Monique. I hated seeing her cry like that."

I put my hand on Ron's. "When we thought you were dead, it hit Mo really hard. It hit all of us hard, but she was the one who grieved the most openly." Ron gave me a questioning look. "I wouldn't let myself cry. I thought that, because I was the one who got you killed, I didn't get to mourn. I didn't deserve to."

Ron took my hand in his. "That's not healthy, KP.."

"I didn't care. I was punishing myself." I pulled my hand from his and presented the laptop. "That's not why I'm here. I have a special surprise for you."

I opened the laptop and turned it on. It automatically connected to the Yamanuchi school. I had emailed Yori earlier in the day telling her that I needed to talk to her and Sensei about something important. I didn't say what. When the cameras connected and clicked on, there were Yori and Sensei, just as expected.

Sensei hadn't changed at all in the last six years. Yori, however, had let her hair grow out more, and had it tied back in a ponytail. They both bowed.

"Kim Possible," Sensei said, "it is an..." he trailed off when he saw Ron. "Stoppable-san?

"Sensei? Yori?" Ron had tears forming in his eyes.

Then it happened. The normally stoic Sensei broke down and openly wept. "My son," he said. "How is it that you live?"

"Kim-san?" Yori asked me, her eyes pleading with me to tell her that this was real. "This is not a trick is it?"

"This is real," I said reassuring them. "This is the real Ron Stoppable, and he is very much alive." With that I got up and left. I felt the three of them deserved their privacy.

* * *

An hour after Ron and Yamanuchi logged off, I sat down at Ron's side. He was drying his tears. "They thought I was dead," Ron said. "Sensei thinks that you were right, that I somehow turned the MMP off to hide it from Mech." Ron turned his gaze at me. "He blamed himself. Sensei, I mean. So did Yori. They thought that they didn't train me enough the last time I was there. Sensei was apologizing for not giving me the Lotus Blade when I left." Ron hung his head. "Sensei cried. He never cries!"

"That should tell you something, Ron. That should tell you how much we all love you." I was about to leave when Ron stopped me. "What's wrong?"

"What you said a while back, about you, you know..."

"I do love you, Ron," I said. I put my hand over my heart. "I thought the 'Never be Normal' tattoo was proof of that."

Ron nodded. He was about to say something, but stopped. "It's nothing. I'll tell you later."

I knew better than to push. When Ron was ready to talk, he would. I leaned in and kissed his cheek. "I'll see you later."

I had decided to make one last trip to my office before heading back to my new apartment. My fam had gone back to Middleton and their lives, and I moved into my own one bedroom apartment in downtown Jasper. I wasn't planning on making it my permanent residence. I had been talking to a real estate agent June Darby suggested about buying a house of my own.

I had spent years living out of suitcases because I wanted to be able to go where the missions were. Now, even though I would be called at all hours of the night to ground bridge around the world, I was looking to set down permanent roots. In a backwater place like Jasper, Nevada, no less. Times certainly had changed.

The laptop Ron had used to talk to Sensei and Yori chimed as soon as I set it down on my desk. I opened it to see Sensei. "Kim Possible," he said. "May I speak to you for a moment?"

"Of course." I took a seat and got settled. "What is it?"

"First I must thank you for saving Stoppable-san."

"That wasn't just me."

"I know," the ninja headmaster replied. "Please express my gratitude to the others involved." Sensei took a deep breath, ran his hand over his voluminous beard, then continued.

"We at Yamanuchi were more than a little frightened. With the death of the Monkey Master, we feared that the battles he had been prophesied to fight would fall to those ill equipped to survive them, let alone be victorious. That was one of the reasons we placed the Han in the Stoppable family's custody."

"I thought you would have done that anyway," I said. "Even if Ron hadn't been captured."

"That is true," Sensei agreed. "The Han has a battle ahead of her against a force of pure darkness, one that the Monkey Master will be a vital part of. We had hoped that, by hiding her, the forces of that darkness may be unable to find her, and she may be spared that battle. Unfortunately, the very ones we had hoped to deter are coming closer. We did not know if anyone would be able to teach Han what she would need in order to persevere."

Sensei took another deep breath. "There is more. Our seers had predicted that the Monkey Master would fully accept his power when fierce warriors from the sky, great in stature and cruelty, would come down to earth seeking to destroy its people. That was to have happened five years ago. Luckily it did not."

That description sounded a lot like the Lorwardians. According to Teletraan-1, a Lorwardian called Warmonga showed up my senior year looking for Drakken. She thought that he was some legendary figure form her world's mythology. The Autobots told her that Drakken was dead and "convinced" her to get lost. I was hoping that this didn't mean she was coming back with friends.

"The seers predict other battles, Kim Possible, against great soldiers of metal who can change their form. Stoppable-san must be ready! He must reclaim his power."

It just had to be the Decepticons, didn't it? "How can we help him do that?" I asked.

"Alas, that is the problem. I do not know." When Sensei looked at me, I could see the pain in the old man's eyes. "Emotion is a key component of the Mystical Monkey Power. Monkey Fist believes that his love of power is enough, but it is not. The reason Stoppable-san is destined to be the Ultimate Monkey Master is his ability to love his friends and family with an unrestrained heart. That love of others is why he first claimed the power, and why the power bonded with him in a way it will never bond with Monkey Fist. We must help him find his heart again, Kim Possible. We must return his capacity to love."

The next day was when all hell broke loose. The next day was when Megatron stole Ron from me for a second time.

* * *

I had left Felix in the infirmary and went to my office. The phone was ringing off the hook when I got there. I didn't know who it was, but I so didn't want to deal with them right now. I grabbed the receiver and fought the urge to scream at whoever was on the other line.

"Possible," I said.

"Ah, Agent Possible," a raspy, metallic voice said. That voice chilled me to the bone.

"Megatron," I growled.

"Indeed. We have business to discuss."

My brows furrowed and I felt my blood pressure spiking. "Where's Ron?!"

"Patience, Agent Possible, all in good time."

"A good time is now!" I screamed. "I don't give a damn if you are the Emperor of Destruction! You took my best friend from me and I want him back!"

Megatron snickered. "The human temper," he said. "How precious. When angered, you fleshlings almost sound dangerous. I am more than happy to return your friend to you, Agent Possible, but it will have to be a trade."

"A trade? For what?"

"Very simple, Agent Possible. I want the location of the _Ark."_

* * *

Five minutes later I was with Spike and Agent Fowler, and I had Optimus Prime linked in on an encrypted channel. Fowler was almost as tweaked as I was.

"That tin plated tyrant!" Fowler exclaimed. "He busts our walls down, hurts innocent people, and steals a hurt boy just to use him as a bargaining chip!"

Spike looked over at me. "Does he really think you'll sell out Prime and the others?"

"It doesn't matter," Optimus said. "Our priority must be the safe return of Ronald Stoppable."

"I don't trust Megatron to give Ron back to us alive," I growled. "We all know that the root word of the name Decepticon is 'deception.' I have a hard time believing that Megatron will play straight with us."

"Kim is correct," Optimus said. "We must plan carefully. Kim, I am sending one of the Autobots to come get you. You will travel via ground bridge in case the Decepticons are watching. Once you're at the _Ark,_ we will begin to make plans."

I nodded. "Give me an hour," I said. "I need to let Ron's family know." Family. That gave me an idea! "Agent Fowler, we may need to break with established protocols here..."

* * *

Sixty minutes later I was back on base with my secret weapon, and was heading to the rendezvous point. We were waiting for our ride when Felix came up to me. He stopped when he saw me with Hana.

"What's the squirt doing here?"

"Hi, Felix!" Hana happily said. "I'm gonna help Kimmie find my brother!"

Felix was about to say something when I cut him off. "I have important work to do, Felix. Is there something you need?"

"Yeah, actually." He looked uncomfortable. "That, you know, thing that took Ron? It had this weird symbol on it, like an angular purple face. I've seen it before."

I glared at him. "Where?"

"Well-"

I got in Felix's face. "Dammit, _WHERE!?_ Ron's life may be at stake, so you better tell me where the hell you saw that symbol!"

Felix was visibly shaken. He'd never seen me blow my top like that before. "It was on some weird tech that Professor Sumdac has! We've been trying to reverse engineer it!"

"Perfect!" I hissed. "Jut perfect!" Decepticon tech in civilian hands. Nothing could go wrong there. "Go to Spike and Agent Fowler! Tell them everything!"

"What about you?" he stammered.

A yellow muscle car pulled up and came to a stop. Behind the wheel was a brown haired man with sunglasses. The window rolled down and he stuck his head out. "Hey, Possible! We gotta go! They're all waiting for us!"

I looked over at Felix. "I'm going to find Ron." I picked up Hana. "Come on, sweetie." We headed to the car. I put Han in the backseat before sliding into shotgun. We took off without saying goodbye.

With Felix getting smaller in the rear view, I looked behind me at Hana. "You're about to meet some really special people, Hana," I said. "This has to be a secret between you, me, and your brother when we find him." I winked at her, letting her know it was like Yamanuchi.

"Got your back," she said in a determined voice.

I looked over at the holomatter avatar in Bumblebee's driver's seat. "I didn't expect you, Bee. I thought you were undergoing the Hephaestus treatment." Then I remembered the voice I had heard. "It worked?"

The avatar looked at me and smiled. "It worked! You're dad's a genius. I have my pipes back!"

I felt my eyes threatening to tear up. Bumblebee noticed.

"Kim? What's wrong?"

"It's just that, you sound a lot like Ron," I told him.

The avatar smirked. "I'll take that as a compliment."

"And Sideways?"

The grin faded. "Still in the tank. He was a real mess. It's not just what Megatron did to him, but Silas, too. 'Ways was mangled up before taking that hit for you and Bulkhead."

* * *

Hana squealed like the little kid she was when we went through the ground bridge. I thought she was going to go absolutely nuts when she saw the _Ark_ for the first time. You can guess her reaction when she saw Bumblebee transform.

The yellow Autobot got down on one knee, closer to her eye level. "Not a lot of people have seen this place, Hana," he said. "That makes you part of a very special club. We're gonna help you find your brother, but you have to help us by keeping all this a secret. Can you do that?"

Hana gave a determined nod, which made Bumblebee smile. That was when I noticed that he had retracted his mouth plate, showing his face in its entirety. "I knew we could count on you, Hana. Come on, let's go meet the others."

When we got to the bridge, all of the Autobots, except for Ratchet, were there, along with Dinobot, Rhinox and Rattrap. If the Maximals were here, that meant that Optimus was going to pull out all the stops. I was surprised that Grimlock and his team of Dinobots weren't there.

Hana made a beeline for Windblade. "You're pretty," Hana said. "Are you a kabuki?"

Windblade smiled and got down as close to eye level with Han as she could. It wasn't the first time she had been asked that. When June's son Jack and his friends get mixed up in all this, one of those friends, a Japanese exchange student named Miko Nakadai, had asked the same question. Right before noticing Bulkhead and bonding with the big guy.

"No, sweetspark, I'm not. These markings only look like Kabuki makeup. A long time ago there was a giant Transformer called Caminus, who left our original home in search of a new world we could colonize. He even carried the means to create new life. That's where I was born. His face bore these markings. In his honor, we named our new planet after him, and many of us wear his markings."

"Neat!" Hana said. "What's a 'sweetspark?'"

I answered that one. "It's there version of 'sweetheart,' Hana."

Rattrap took one look at Hana and let out derisive laugh. "Really, Possible, this is your secret weapon? A human protoform?"

Hana looked up at me. "What's a protoform?"

"I'll tell you later," I said. Then I looked over at Rattrap. "Hana here has a special bond with Ron. She knew he was alive when everyone else was certain he was dead."

"Yeah," the rodent conceded, "but did she know _where_ he was?" He saw the look that crossed my face. "Didn't think so."

"As much as I hate to agree with the vermin," Dinobot said, "the child's intuition could have been wishful thinking."

I had to agree with that. "True, but when I called to tell her and her parents that we'd found Ron alive, she already knew and was waiting for me to call."

The Predacon-turned-Maximal looked down at Hana. "Indeed? Then it would seem that there is more to this child and the human called Stoppable than meets the eye."

"Hana and Ron are linked through a mystical power," I said. I knew that would resonate with the Autobots. Cybertronians had their own concept of magic. The Matrix of Leadership in Optimus Prime's chest was thought to be a mystical artifact of their god Primus.

"Okay, so the kid has a bond with her brother," Bulkhead said. "How does that help us?"

I smiled at Han. "She knew Ron was alive and told us every chance she got. That was before ever meeting him face to face. Now she has met him, and they've started actually bonding as siblings. That mystical link might be strong enough now to let her find him. All we'll need is a map."

"I don't know, kid," Ironhide said, "that sounds like a real long shot."

I couldn't argue with that. "You're right, it is. But it's either that, or I start trying to deceive Megatron. I'm a lousy liar, guys, so if I tried to give him the wrong location for this ship, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't believe me."

Ironhide shrugged. "Be that as it may, kid, I still don't have a good feeling about this."

"I know," I said. "But there's something else. Hana has a bond with me, and I have, or at least had, a twelve year long friendship with Ron. Maybe, between the two of us, we can somehow find him."

Optimus stepped up to me. "Teletraan-1, bring up a 3-D map of the planet." He turned to me and Hana. "I don't know what you will need in order to focus..."

"Don't worry," Hana said, "I have this." She sat down in the lotus position, and I joined her. "Just think about my brother," she told me.

That was easy. Ron was all I was thinking about. Well, that and ripping Megatron to shreds with my bare hands! I thought about the day I met Ron back in pre-k, and telling him that he was weird but I liked him. I thought about the first mission we went on, and then every mission afterwards. And I thought about failing him on prom night.

There was a blue glow in front of me, and I opened my eyes to see that Hana was the source of that luminescence. "I see him." Hana stood up and went over to the hologram of the globe. She pointed at the Australian outback. "He's there."

"Teletraan-1," Optimus said, "zoom in on that location. Let's pinpoint the exact spot where the Decepticons are holding Ron." He looked down at Hana with a warm look. "Well done, Hana. Your brother will be proud of you."

* * *

The ground bridge opened up and Bumblebee rolled out of it. We were about three miles away from the spot Hana had pointed out on the map. I had to hand it to Megatron, he had the good sense to hide in remote locations. The Australian Outback was pretty desolate, so no one would be here to see a big hole in the ground that the Decepticons had turned into an energon mine.

Bumblebee came to a stop, and Dinobot skidded to a halt behind him. I climbed out of Bee, as did Rattrap in his beast mode. Bumblebee transformed and let out a whistle. "Wow. This reminds me a little of the Sea of Rust back home. But prettier."

Dinobot transformed and took in the environment. "The Sea of Rust was a training ground for me when I was learning Metallikato from Master Yokitron," he said with near reverence. He didn't get to finish his thought because Rattrap opened his big mouth.

"Can someone please explain to me why we brought Chopperface with us?"

Bumblebee rolled his optics. "I don't know, Rattrap, can someone explain why we brought you along?"

I so didn't have the bandwidth for all of this infighting. "All of you, knock it the scrap off!" I looked over at Rattrap. "Dinobot's here because I asked him to be here." I turned to Bumblebee. "And Rattrap's here because he has the det-packs. Now can we please get going before all of this bickering tells Megatron that we're at his front door?"

With that I powered up my power suit and walked off. I grinned when I heard Dinobot speak up. "She may be human, but she has a warrior's spark."

That smile went away when Rattrap, again, opened his big mouth. "She just wants her boyfriend back."

Bumblebee groaned. "Shut up, Rattrap."

"He's not my boyfriend," was all I said. But he could have been. He _should_ have been.

* * *

The energon mine was, as I said, a huge hole in the ground. It was almost as big as a football field, and pretty darn deep. I deployed climbing spikes from the gloves and boots of my suit and started descending into the abyss. The others were right behind, or in this case, above me.

This mine had been abandoned for a while, it seemed. There were no drill drones, or any glowing energon crystals. That was a good thing and a bad thing. It was a good thing since there were no Decepticons to pick us off while we made our descent, and a bad thing because there was no energon to take back to the _Ark._

There had been talk about moving the ship again, but the Autobots didn't have enough energon to power the ship's phase shifter; the device that let the ship pass through solid objects, allowing it to land in the underground depot without a way for a ship that size to actually land.

The phase shifter had been used twice on Earth, and the drain had been enormous. The first time was when the _Ark_ first landed on Earth in 1984. They used the eruption of Mount Saint Hillary as cover, and wound up hiding in the volcano itself for decades.

The second use was when they went from the volcano in Oregon to the depot in Nevada. The _Ark_ traveled through hundreds of miles of solid rock, never coming out of the ground, just in case the 'Cons were watching. That put a huge dent in the Autobots' energon reserves.

I couldn't focus on that, though. Hana said Ron was here, and I was determined to bring him home safe. I know Hana wished I could have brought her with us, but it was way too dangerous for her. She could have led us directly to Ron, but it so wasn't worth the risk. Instead, we were going to have to search. Fortunately for me, my suit's sensors were set to human life signs.

We reached the bottom in silence and without being noticed. Bumblebee held his arms out and deployed a pair of blasters on the back of each forearm. Rattrap pulled his gun, Dinobot drew his sword, and I powered up my own blasters. I gestured to the others to move forward.

After every few meters, Rattrap would plant one of his demolition packs. We were going to booby trap this place to help cover our escape. You might think that I was being overly optimistic, but I had no intention of leaving without Ron.

My suit's scanners picked up on human life signs very quickly, as well as Decepticon and Predacon energy signatures. As far as I knew, Waspinator was the only Pred who came with Megatron. The thought of facing bug face again didn't bother me; Ron needed me and I was not going to let him down again!

We stopped thirty feet away from Ron's life signs. I looked over at Rattrap, who nodded, didn't complain, and transformed to beast mode. He scampered into the chamber where Ron was being held. Assuming the guards in there didn't notice him, Rattrap was going to scope the place out. In beast mode, he was the smallest of us.

I really don't like Rattrap that much. He's rude, obnoxious, and he smells bad, but he is an expert with explosives and recon. Even Dinobot admits that, and I get the feeling that Dinobot would love to scrap Rattrap with extreme prejudice! Rattrap was the best with bombs and sneaking around, and the best was what I needed.

That was also why Dinobot was there. He had been a Predacon, and before that, a Decepticon. He knew how Megatron thinks. That was insight I needed.

As for Bumblebee, he insisted on coming, and I wasn't going to turn down the help. We were the advance team, and we had Bulkhead, Windblade and the others ready to ground bridge in at a moment's notice. I failed Ron once. I was _NOT_ going to do it again!

A short eternity later, Rattrap came scampering out. "Just bug boy and Starscream," he said.

I nodded. "And Ron?"

"Your boy toy's alive, and being held in some kind of cage. He doesn't seem like he's been hurt too badly."

"Too bad I can't say the same for you," a voice like nails down a chalkboard said. I looked up to see Starscream and Waspinator coming right for us.

"Well scrap," I muttered. So much for this being easy. I looked over at Bumblebee and at Dinobot. They both nodded. We were all on the same page. They stayed put while I attacked. These creeps were going to pay for talking Ron from me again.

I lunged at Starscream and deployed my energon blades. I was screaming out a war cry as I flew at him. The air commander didn't seem to expect little old me to be a threat until I buried my swords right into the metal surrounding his spark chamber.

"Waspinator help me!" he screamed.

"Fleshy bot afraid of Wazzpinator. Wazzpinator kill fleshy bot!"

I pulled a bomb Rattrap had given me and jumped onto the Predacon's back. "You don't scare me anymore." I planted the bomb on Waspinator's back, right between his wings, and jumped off.

Waspinator flew around in a panic as he tried, and failed, to reach the det-pack. Two seconds later, it blew, sending pieces of Predacon all over the chamber. Then I turned my attention to Starscream, who was trying to staunch the bleeding energon from the wounds on his chest.

"All right, this is how this is gonna work," I growled. "You're going to release Ron. Now."

"And if I refuse?"

I grinned. "Then Dinobot finishes what I started."

The former Predacon held the tip of his sword at Starscream's wounded spark chamber. "Tell me, Starscream, do you remember our last encounter?" The audible gulp told us all that he did, indeed remember.

The fallen Decepticon was about to get up when a ground bridge suddenly opened and out stepped Megatron. "What is this?!" the Emperor of Destruction bellowed.

"Ah scrap, it's Bucket Head!" Rattrap muttered. "We're all gonna die."

Megatron deployed a sword from his fusion cannon. "How did you find this place?"

"That's my secret," I said. "Now you're going to give Ron back to me, or I'll have Rattrap blow this place!"

"Yup, I got this place ready to go up like Altihex at the beginning of the war," the Maximal saboteur said.

"And kill your precious Ronald at the same time? Highly unlikely." Before Megatron could come any closer, Bumblebee fired a warning shot. Megatron chuckled. "Ah, and here is Optimus' pet scout. Are you that eager for me to do to your spark what I did to your voice box?"

"You took Ron, and you took my voice," Bumblebee growled. "You will never rob anyone of anything ever again!"

Megatron's scowl deepened. "How is this possible? Your voice box damaged beyond repair! I saw to that!"

"Human technology," was all Bee said.

That was enough to drive Megatron's rage into overdrive. He fired off blast after blast from his fusion cannon, hitting all three of my partners and taking them out of the fight. It was just me and Megatron. He leveled his monster gun at me.

"You are persistent, I'll give you that," he growled. "You're also a fool! Why throw your life away for someone the rest of your pathetic world had the good sense to ignore?"

"I love him," was all I said.

"Love," Megatron said. "A stupid emotion. It is your undoing, as it will be the undoing of your dear Optimus Prime." The maw of Megatron's cannon started to glow. "I'll make sure there's enough of your meat left to send to Prime. Farewell, Agent Possible!"

The air was filled with the sound of thousands of shrieking monkeys, distracting Megatron long enough for me to fire a quick volley at his eyes so I could get to cover. That didn't work so well. In his rage, Megatron started to fire everywhere, in the hopes that he would hit me.

"Get away from _MY KP!"_

I looked up and saw Ron, free and floating in the air. He was surrounded by a glowing blue aura in the shape of a monkey, and he looked like he was abut to tear Megatron to shreds!

I should have gotten to cover, or checked on Bee and the others, but I couldn't move. I was dumbfounded by what I saw. It was the Mystical Monkey Power, it had to be! But I wasn't thinking about that. I was thinking like a schoolgirl with a crush, not an elite operative.

 _Did he just call me "his KP?"_ _That would be the most weirdly romantic thing anyone ever said to me if it wasn't the last thing I was ever going to hear._

* * *

 **Author's note: Happy belated New Year, folks! May 2017 be better than 2016. I come to you today following a lot of personal changes, including a relocation. The move made getting time to write difficult, but I'm back at it. Hopefully it won't take months to get the next chapter out. And speaking of which…**

 **Next Chapter: The Monkey Master vs The Emperor of Destruction!**


	14. Chapter 14

_**Kim Possible and all related characters are the property of Disney. Transformers and all related characters are the property of Hasbro.**_

 _ **The Transformers used will be a mixture of Generation 1, Beast Wars, the IDW Comics series (which is fantastic, by the way), the Aligned Continuity (The**_ **Prime** _ **and**_ **Robots in Disguise** _ **TV series and the Fall of Cybertron and War for Cybertron video games), and a smattering of**_ **The Unicron Trilogy (Armada, Energon,** _ **and**_ **Cybertron)** _ **and**_ **Animated** _ **.**_

* * *

"Get away from _MY KP!"_

My name is Kim Possible. I'm a special agent with Unit E, assigned to the Autobots, and I was witnessing history. I saw Ron Stoppable, my lifelong best friend, former mission partner and the man I loved, floating in midair and glowing blue. He had embraced the Mystical Monkey Power and was accepting the title of Monkey Master. He was also about to go toe to toe with Megatron!

But I wasn't paying attention to any of that. Instead, like a crushing sheep, I focused on what he had just said.

 _Did he just call me "his KP?"_ _That would be the most weirdly romantic thing anyone ever said to me if it wasn't the last thing I was ever going to hear._

Yeah, not me at my professional best, but I so didn't care. I was mesmerized by what I saw and, I admit, hoping that this meant Ron felt sort of the same way for me that I did for him. Again, not me at my professional best. I was drawn away from my schoolgirl fantasies by the sound of Megatron growling.

"Well now," the Decepticon leader finally said, "it seems you have been holding out on me, haven't you fleshling?"

"Let Kim and her friends go, shark face," Ron warned. The sound of shrieking monkeys got louder as he made his threat.

"Tell me, Stoppable, how are you doing this?"

"None of your stinking business." Ron had his head completely in the game. He was focused in a way that I had only seen when he was getting ready to dive into a grande sized naco meal. I almost felt sorry for Megatron. Almost, but not quite.

"You know, Stoppable, I have researched you," Megatron said. "It was no easy task, I assure you. It seems that the populace of this pathetic world was pathologically incapable of getting your name right, or remembering you beyond the numerous times you would lose your trousers."

"So?"

"So, we are a lot alike, you and I." Megatron was smiling, trying to look genuine. It looked like he was trying to pull some full on Decepticon level lies.

"Don't listen to him, Ron!"

Megatron ignored me and continued. "You see, we were both victims of an unfair world. When I first emerged from the Well of all Sparks back on Cybertron, I was relegated to the role of a menial laborer, a miner, simply because I emerged from the Well of all Sparks with a driller alternate mode. I was even denied a name.

"I was kept under the heels of the Fucntionalist upper class and later, their Autobot enforcers! It wasn't until I discovered the gladiator arena that I found my calling. I took the name Megatronus, after one of the original thirteen members of my race, and rose to elevate all Cybertonians! I was going to bring them all peace!"

"Yeah," I said, "peace through tyranny! And Megatronus Prime was a traitor! He murdered Solus Prime! His own lover! Real nice role model!"

Megatron growled at me; a veiled threat to make me shut up. It so didn't work. "Don't listen to him, Ron! He started a civil war!"

"It was your dear Optimus Prime who did that, Agent Possible! He and I were friends once. Brothers! But he betrayed me. He joined the Autobots as a code breaker and kept me from my birthright! He stole the Matrix of Leadership from my grasp!"

This was news to me. Although I didn't know exactly how Optimus found the Matrix, I did know that Halogen, a member of the old Cybertronian Senate, decided that Orion Pax would be the next Prime, and sent him on a search for the Matrix to prove his worth. It looked like the Autobots were just as skilled at propaganda as the 'Cons were.

"So you were picked on?" Ron said.

"Indeed," Megatron sneered.

"And then took revenge on everyone around you?" Megatron's grin was the answer. "That makes you just as much of a bully as those who harshed on you." Ron's eyes narrowed. "And I hate bullies! That means it's time to make the nacos!"

Ron charged at Megatron, punching the metal giant right in his Decepticon symbol and knocking him back several feet. Megatron growled and deployed his sword from under the fusion canon mounted on his right arm.

"Very well. I will extract the secret of this power from your shredded remains!" Megatron swung his sword at Ron, who caught it between the palms of his hands. Megatron was visibly struggling against Ron, whose strength looked like it was on par with Hego! "Release my weapon!"

"Okay." Ron twisted his grasp and the air was filled with a loud metallic snap! Ron tore Megatron's sword right off! Ron tossed the blade in the air and caught it so the tip was pointing away from him. He then started to spin around and around like a hammer thrower, turning into a miniature blue tornado. After he had built up enough speed he let the blade go, and it flew right through Megatron's chest, just missing his spark chamber. Glowing blue energon gushed from the wounds.

"Hah!" I looked over and saw Starscream, his own wounds still bleeding, struggle to his feet. "The mighty Megatron, felled by a human! The time of Megatron is over! The time of Starscream has begun! I will now take my place as the true leader of the Decepticons!"

"Except a human took you down too, Screamer," came the pained retort from Bumblebee. The yellow 'bot got to his feet, pointed his blasters, and shot off Starscream's right wing.

That finally got my butt in gear. "Bee! Are you all right?"

He groaned and said, "Depends on your definition of 'all right,' Kim." Before he could say anything else, a ground bridge opened, and it wasn't ours.

"Scrap," Bee and I said at the same time.

"You _IDIOT!"_ From out of the ground bridge came a pained looking Slipstream. She made a beeline to her fallen twin. "When you get hurt, I feel it! That's the only reason I haven't slagged you yet!"

"Your concern, dear sister, is overwhelming," Starscream groaned. "Now do your duty to family and kill them!"

Slipstream looked over at us and smirked. "As much as I hate you, brother, I love to kill lesser life forms."

"Sorry, not this time." I hit the emergency signal on my suit's transponder. We had bridged in several miles away from the mine for two reasons; we didn't have an exact location, and we didn't want to tip Megatron off. Now, though, all of our radios were telling Teletraan-1 exactly where we were.

Another swirling green vortex opened, and out came a black two door coup with silver trim. I hadn't seen this Autobot before, and I exchanged a confused look with Bumblebee.

"Who the cold boot is that?" Rattrap, who had just gotten back on his feet, asked.

"No clue," Bee said.

Ron came up to me and got in a low crouch. I was surprised he could do that considering he was still recovering from having his knee replaced. "What's going on?" he asked. "More bad guys?"

"I'm not sure." I watched in awe as the car smashed into Slipstream, sending her flying.

"Pathetic fool!" Starscream shrieked, feeling his sister's pain. "Can't you do any better than that?"

"Oh, shut up!" Slipstream bellowed. "It's not like you did any better!"

The black car started to break apart as the air was filled with the sounds of transformation. The grille and headlights became a chest piece, the doors were now hanging from his shoulders like arm guards, and the back of the car had become feet. A panel on the chest slid open revealing an Autobot symbol. He pointed his arms at the fallen 'Cons, and long barreled guns deployed.

He had shining blue optics and a kind face with a definite smirk. "Not so fast, guys," a warm sounding voice said. He glanced over at me and Ron. "Good to see you, Kim. And Ron Stoppable, nice to finally meet you. I never knew you humans could glow."

"Who the Pit are you?" Megatron, in obvious pain, managed to growl.

"Megatron, I'm hurt. Surely you remember the 'bot whose execution you were going to broadcast all over Cybertron."

Bumblebee said the name before I could. "Sideways?"

"Good to see you, kid! It's nice to hear your voice finally."

Sideways. It was Sideways! Dad's Hephaestus bath worked!

"I hope you don't mind that I dropped in, Megatron," the former Decepticon said. "I owe you some serious payback! You tried to slag me, you tried to slag my friends, and you kidnapped an innocent human. No more."

Megatron only laughed. "So now you're back in one piece. Too bad it won't last."

Megatron was about to fire his canon when Ron jumped back into action. He flew at Megatron and slammed both fists into the Decepticon's head, shattering his helmet and sending bits of metal flying. Then he grabbed Megatron's arm, tore off his canon, and flung the metal titan against the far end of the chamber.

"Oh, scrap this!" Slipstream said. "Soundwave! Reopen the ground bridge! We need evac now!"

The vortex reopened and Soundwave came through. He went right to his master's side.

"Don't leave me, Soundwave," Megatron groaned.

This was our chance. I looked over at the others. Dinobot was again on his feet. I gave Rattrap the signal, then called for our own ground bridge. As soon as it opened and we were through, Rattrap hit the detonator.

The chamber was rocked by explosions and the sound of Starscream, well, screaming. We all jumped through the open portal before the place could come down around our ears.

As soon as we were safely back at the _Ark_ , I looked over at Ron. The glow faded, as did the sound of monkeys. It looked like he was going to hug me, but instead he kissed me. And I mean he _kissed me!_ It was a full on make out session, tonsil hockey, whatever you want to call it. And I was in heaven. Then I heard Optimus Prime clear his throat. We reluctantly broke apart and looked up.

"Welcome to the _Ark,_ Ronald Stoppable."

* * *

"That was beyond foolish!" I was glad I wasn't Sideways. He may have been back on his feet, but now he had Ratchet in his face and screaming at him. "You just came out of a highly experimental procedure! "You could have gone permanently offline!"

"Bee had the same procedure and he still went on the mission," Sideways protested.

"On his voice box!" the medic replied. "You were practically rebuilt from the ground up!"

"Look, Ratchet, I appreciate the concern, but this is the best I've felt since I came out of the Well of All Sparks! I feel better than new! And besides, no harm done. I'm fine, our people are fine, and be blew Megatron to the scrap heap."

This time it was Windblade who spoke up. "You'd better listen to your doctor!" She walked over to Sideways, and I could see how much taller the former Headmaster was now. Mech had really done a number on him when they pulled his wreckage out of the Siberian tundra. They must have cut a lot out of him to make him the size he was when I first met him.

"Look, 'Blade, I'm fine! I'm better than fine! I'm back in one piece."

"And we're gonna keep you that way," Bulkhead added. "You're an honorary Wrecker now, half pint!"

It looked like the feud between those two was finally over. I looked over at Optimus and asked about the other feud. "Any chance that Megatron is really gone for good?"

Optimus shook his head. "I doubt it."

"Megatron has more lives than one of your cats," Ironhide added. "He survived getting pounded by a metro-titan named Metroplex right before we bugged out from Cybetron. I doubt he's dead, and I doubt Soundwave, Starscream or Slipstream are dead either."

"Neither's Waspinator," Rattrap said. "Ol' Bug-boy's been blown up more than anyone I've ever met."

"Hopefully," Optimus said, "they will be damaged enough for us to be able to regroup. All we can do is wait and see." He looked down at Ron, who was being hugged to death by Hana. "It is indeed an honor to finally meet you, Ronald."

Ron rubbed the back of his neck. "Uh, yeah, thanks. So, now what?"

I took Ron's hand in mine. "Well, if you want I can give you a tour. Or we can go back to base. I know everyone there is worried about you." Then I looked at Hana. "Besides, I think it's getting close to Hana's bedtime."

"Aw," the little girl protested, "but I'm not sleepy."

Ron let out a yawn. "Yeah, but I am. I think some rack time might not be a bad idea."

"Okay," I said. Then I looked up at Prime. He and I were going t have a chat later.

* * *

Ron was rushed into the infirmary to get looked over, and I took Hana back home. She was so not happy with it, and tried to get out of it by using her own version of the puppy dog pout on me. It almost worked, too. Fortunately I had been on the giving side of that long enough that I was able to resist. Barely.

After getting back to base, I went to go check on Ron. He was out like a light. The heart to heart I needed to have with him would have to wait. Then I saw Felix. I might not get the answers I wanted from Ron, but I could get a few from Felix.

"Have you talked to Fowler and Spike yet?" I asked, getting down to business.

"Um, no," he said sheepishly.

"Then let's go."

Three minutes later we were in Fowler's office, and Felix was showing us the Decepticon Professor Sumdac was trying to reverse engineer. Not Decepticon tech, but an actual Decepticon. Well, technically it was a Vehicon drone, but close enough.

The 'bot was solid purple, had wings, and looked looked it transformed into some kind of flying Cybertronian car. It had no face; just a red visor on a chrome head.

"How long has Sumdac had this?" Fowler asked.

"Since the '80's," Felix replied. That fit with the timelines for when the Transformers got here, and for when Isaac Sumdac started to really innovate. "He said it crashed in his yard when he was living in Oregon, right around the time Mount Saint Hillary erupted. He brought me in on it six months ago."

"Well then," Spike said, "it seems like we have a lot to discuss with you and your boss."

"Look, Agent Witwicky, Professor Sumdac's a good man. He had no idea what these things were. I mean, I still don't know what they are and I saw one nab Ron! Just please, keep that in mind."

Spike and Fowler, poker faces intact, said nothing. Felix and I were dismissed. The looks on their faces told me that we would all be having a chat soon. First things first, though. Felix had some 'splaning to do.

He reluctantly wheeled into my office. I closed the door and took a seat. "Spill," was all I said.

"Look, I told you already! Professor Sumdac-"

I held up my hand to cut him off. "Not that. What's the sitch with you and Ron? You've been treating him like a leper! Not only that, but Ron said you told him to get lost on Diablo Night when he asked for your help."

Felix let out a long sigh and hung his head. He looked ashamed, tired, and like he hated himself. In other words, he looked a lot like I had felt over the last six years. "I'm a terrible friend," he said quietly. He looked up at me and I saw tears forming in his eyes. "I brushed my best friend off because I was trying to score a date with Zita Flores."

"Ron's ex?" Things were starting to make sense.

"Yeah. We were both playing this new online MMORPG when Ron called. I didn't want him to know that I was trying to hook up with his ex-girlfriend, so I gave him the brush off. I've spent the last six years hating myself for it."

Felix wiped the tears away, then looked up at me. "That's why I was so harsh with you, Possible. I mean, you brushed him off for a date, but you owned it! You never made excuses for it. Me? I couldn't do that. You're the first person I've ever told."

I went over to Felix and embraced him. He surprised me by hugging me back. "You need to tell him this."

"How can I though?" Felix pulled away and looked me in the eyes. "There's a guy code that says you don't date a friend's ex!"

"We're not in high school anymore, Felix. Ron deserves the truth. Normally I'd tell you to go do it now, but Ron's sleeping pretty heavily, and I think you need to work up your courage. First thing tomorrow you need to talk to Ron. For your own sake, you need to come clean with him."

* * *

"A Vehicon? Really?" As soon as Felix left, I got on the comm with the _Ark._ Optimus Prime was alone on the bridge when I made the call.

"According to Felix, it crashed in Isaac Sumdac's yard around the time you first landed on Earth."

Optimus nodded. "Vehicons made up the bulk of Megatron's army in the later stages of the war. He raided the production the factories in the Well and took all of the blank protoforms. He programmed them with artificial intelligence and used them as cannon fodder. Each of those bodies would have housed a spark had it not been for the energon shortage. Now they will never have a chance to truly live at all."

"I'm sorry," was all I could say to that. I sat in silence for a moment, remembering what Megatron had said. "In the history you gave me to read, you said that the Senate named you the next Prime following Sentinel's death, and sent you to find the Matrix as a way of proving yourself. You never told me how or where you found the Matrix."

"And Megatron told you that I discerned the Matrix's location and robbed him of his destiny." Optimus opened his mouth plate. "That was not a lie. The official history was written the way it was to reassure the populace. It would have been a blow to the people had they known how close to finding the Matrix Megatron had been, and that a lowly archivist had taken it upon himself to get it first. Me becoming Prime was hard enough for the Functionalists to accept without them knowing how it actually happened.

"I'm sorry I didn't share this information with you, Kim. To be honest, I didn't think you would be a permanent addition to the team. I know that's no excuse, but it is the truth. I claimed the Matrix so Megatron could not. That is one of the reasons I was worthy of it. I did not seek power for its own sake. I wanted to keep it out of the hands of one who would abuse it."

"That makes sense," I said. It was what Ron had done with the jade monkey idols years ago. "Thank you for telling me the truth."

"The official stories of the Fallen are also false," Optimus added.

"I kind of figured that," I said. "I've heard that Megatronus Prime fought alongside the others against Unicron and was there when Liege Maximo tried to take over, and that he betrayed them to Unicron, before the coup attempt."

"The latter is the truth," Optimus said. "The surviving Primes decided that Magatronus Prime's story should be a cautionary one, so it was written that he repented for murdering Solus Prime and took to the stars to seek redemption. In actuality, he betrayed the Primes to Unicron; well before Liege Maximo's rebellion. He sacrificed his lover Solus to his new master. The Fallen and the Chaos Bringer were both banished to a realm beyond space and time."

That kind of made sense. "I hope the true stories come out after the war is over," I said.

"That is my plan," Optimus said. "All of the Autobots know the truth. In time, all of Cybertron will."

"Well, since you've been honest with me, I need to be honest with you. I've had Wade keep tabs on BlackArachnia. Passive scans using human tech; nothing the 'Cons would ever think of looking at. If Megatron and his goons ever got close to finding her, I would have let you know."

"Where is she now?"

"The Oklahoma panhandle," I replied. "She's keeping out of sight."

Optimus was silent. "Thank you. I may have you accompany me to see her."

I nodded. It seemed that I was forgiven. I was glad for that. I don't think I could handle it if Optimus was disappointed in me. He was the kind of leader who you wanted to make proud.

* * *

When I got to the infirmary the next morning, I saw Ron and Felix sitting in silence. Ron gave him a small nod, said something, and then Felix wheeled around to leave. When I met Felix outside the room, he stopped.

"We have a ways to go," he said. "I told him the truth, and he needs to process things."

"Give him time. You two were close friends. It's worth salvaging."

After Felix left, I joined Ron in his room. He sat up and flexed his replaced knee. It wasn't any worse considering last night's fight. It must have had something to do with the Mystical Monkey power.

"Hey, KP. I'm sure you know what that was all about."

I took a seat beside Ron's bed. "He told me last night. And I told him he needed to tell you."

Ron rubbed the back of his neck. "That hurts, y'know? I mean, Zita and I didn't last long after the whole _Everlot_ sitch, and I get it. I lied about playing it. I just wanted to impress her. And I don't buy into that whole 'guy code' bull about dating a bud's ex. If he'd told me, I would have been cool with it. But he just brushed me off!"

"It was a theme that night," I said. "I did the same thing." We sat in silence for a moment. I knew what I wanted to ask, but I had to work up the courage to actually do it. "So, for the sake of argument, let's say that you had taken Drakken down without Mech interfering, and you had been able to come back to the prom to tell me the truth about Eric. What would you have done?"

Ron sighed. "I don't know. Really. I mean, I was ready to gloat. Right after I ripped the pretty boy syntho-dud's face off, that is. After that, I don't know." Ron was silent for a moment. He looked at his hands, then at me, then his hands again. "Is this where I apologize for kissing you?"

My eyes went wide. "Don't you dare! That was the single greatest kiss of my life, Ron!"

"It was?"

"It so was!" I took Ron's hands. "That kiss made me weak in the knees!" It also made me want to do naughty things to him right then and there, but I didn't mention that. I _wanted_ to mention it to him, but that was neither the time nor the place.

Ron went silent again. "I chickened out, KP," he finally said. "I still couldn't find that tux I got from Canadian Joe, so I put my dad's powder blue one back on. I was going to go to the prom to talk to you, but I got cold feet and went to Bueno Nacho instead. That's how I found out about the plot."

This had to be what Ron had wanted to tell me the other day. "Why were you going to come to the prom?"

"To tell you that… I mean, I wanted to tell you..."

I kissed Ron this time. It wasn't the intense 'this could lead to foreplay kiss' like yesterday, but I tried to put all the love I felt for him into it. When the kiss broke, I rested my forehead against his. "You were going to tell me you wanted to be more than just friends, weren't you?" _Please let that be what you wanted to tell me._

He nodded, and my heart sang! "I was jealous of Eric, but I didn't want to ruin our friendship if you didn't feel the same about me, so I chickened out."

"I don't know how I would have responded," I said after a few moments. "I was still hung up on Eric, and still listening to Bonnie's 'prom dates make a statement' garbage. I might have tried to let you down easy, or I might not. I don't know."

Ron wiped the tears from his eyes. "Probably a good thing I did lose my nerve."

"Maybe," I said. "If you hadn't, Drakken might have won. And if not him, then Silas sure would have."

Ron looked at me with fear in his eyes. "So, now what?"

"Oh, Ron," I said, "I've waited so long for this. I would love nothing more than to jump into a relationship with you."

"I hear a 'but' coming."

"We're both emotionally raw," I said. "You more so than me. We should take things slow." Ron gave me a confused look. "I told you that I've waited a long time for this. I want to get it right." I leaned in and kissed Ron again. "I love you."

"I love you, Kim," he said, and my heart melted. After six years, I had finally heard those words that I'd wanted to hear for so long. After six years, my heart was finally whole. I was complete.

* * *

Eight days later I was at the Pentagon in Washington DC with Agent Fowler for a press conference. As Sideways would say, we were going to lay our cards on the table.

"As you know," Agent Fowler said from the podium, "Unit E was established to combat extraordinary threats. One of those threats has been, until now classified. They're called Mech. They started out as part of our Special Tactics division, but went on to become black market weapons dealers and war profiteers. Special Agent Kimberly Possible will tell you more about them."

Fowler, who was wearing a suit that actually fit him right, left the podium and motioned for me to take his place. I had my notes in front of me, but had the main points memorized.

"Good morning," I said. "This man," I pressed a button on a remote I had that brought an image of Silas up on the monitor over my shoulder, "is Colonel Leland Bishop. He was part of the military's Special Tactics division. One of the weapons he created was an orbital weapons platform called Project Damocles. It was used once, six years ago. Colonel Bishop also goes by the name Silas, the leader of Mech."

I looked up at the assembled press. "As you all know, we just marked the six year anniversary of Diablo Night, and the destruction of Bueno Nacho headquarters. It was Project Damocles that caused that explosion. But before he pressed that button, Bishop murdered Drew Lipsky, aka Dr. Drakken, and abducted Shego and my mission partner Ron Stoppable.

"In a recent operation in Lowerton, Colorado, we found both Shego and Ron alive. They are currently being nursed back to health following their ordeal, and Silas, Leland Bishop, is now number one on the FBI's most wanted list."

The room erupted in questions before I could finish the briefing.

* * *

Ninety grueling minutes of answering questions later, I was in a conference room in the Pentagon with a cup of coffee. I looked over at Agent Fowler. "I never want to do another one of those ever again."

Fowler just grinned. "Part of the job, Possible. At least you didn't have to talk to Team Go about their sister still being alive. It was all I could do keep that moron Hego from flying that ridiculous jet of theirs down here to drag Shego back to their equally ridiculous tower."

Shego. The doctors had discovered that the nanite bombs in her blood could be filtered out by a dialysis machine, but it would take several treatments. June Darby estimated that they had gotten over half of them out of her, but they were making sure that they couldn't self replicate. After that, well, then she would have to face the music for her role in Diablo Night.

At least Ron would have it relatively easy. He was legally alive again, and the world knew it. The only real fear I had was that I had put him back in Monkey Fist's cross hairs. That lunatic had been convinced that he was the one true Monkey Master, and now the so-called "pretender" was back. Not only that, but Ron had fully accepted his powers. A big fight could be in the future, but that wasn't something I could deal with just yet. Time would tell what was going to happen. For now, Ron had his life back. All he had to do now was decide what he wanted to do with that life.

I took a drink of my coffee and looked over at my boss. "So why are we still here? I thought we'd be heading back to base."

A door opening answered my question. In walked a tall man with a gray crew cut and more medals than I had ever seen on his four star general's uniform. "Bill," he said to Fowler. Then he looked at me. "Agent Possible. I'm General Joe Colton."

I slowly stood up. "The founder of G.I. Joe?"

"He also helped found Unit E," Fowler added. "Is she here, too?"

"Who are you talking about?" I asked.

"The founder of Special Tactics," Colton said. "She'll be along in a moment." Colton turned to Fowler. "Gutsy move, Bill, outing Mech like that. They may try to tell the world about your metal friends."

"A calculated risk, sir, but Prime and his 'bots agreed it was worth it."

"I hope so," a very familiar voice said. In walked another person in uniform, this one a highly decorated colonel. But I didn't see that. I saw a woman I only recently started to really get to know.

"Nana?"

"Hello, Kimberly Ann," my grandmother said. Then she turned to Fowler and Colton. "Gentlemen, it's time to put an end to the mess that Leland Bishop made of my organization!"

* * *

 **Next Chapter: Kim vs Silas, and this time, it's for keeps!**


	15. Chapter 15

_**Kim Possible and all related characters are the property of Disney. Transformers and all related characters are the property of Hasbro.**_

 _ **The Transformers used will be a mixture of Generation 1, Beast Wars, the IDW Comics series (which is fantastic, by the way), the Aligned Continuity (The**_ **Prime** _ **and**_ **Robots in Disguise** _ **TV series and the Fall of Cybertron and War for Cybertron video games), and a smattering of**_ **The Unicron Trilogy (Armada, Energon,** _ **and**_ **Cybertron)** _ **and**_ **Animated.**

 **Wish You Were Here written by David Gilmour and Roger Waters**

* * *

Over the last month I had learned a lot of interesting things. I learned that humanity wasn't alone of the universe, that there was such a thing as naturally occurring robots, and that my best friend (now boyfriend, thank you very much) Ron Stoppable wasn't dead, but had been held captive for six years by a group of techno-terrorists called Mech. That lead to my latest revelation.

My name is Kim Possible. I'm a special agent with Unit E assigned to the Autobots, and I just found out that my own grandmother had a link with Mech. Actually, she was the founder of Special Tactics, the military precursor of Mech.

I was sitting in a conference room at the Pentagon with my boss, Agent William Fowler, as well as my Nana, and General Joe Colton, the founder of G.I. Joe. My grandmother, in her full-dress uniform, had just come into the room. I stood up to greet her.

"Nana, it's great to see you, but what are you doing here?"

My grandmother embraced me. "It's good to see you too, Kimberly Anne." She gave me a squeeze, then let go. "Tell me, how is Ronald?"

I gave her a smile. "Getting stronger every day," I said. "I'm sure he'd love to see you."

Nana returned my smile. "I want to see him," she said. "When Agent Fowler contacted me and told me Ronald was still alive…" Nana trailed off. She was devastated when we lost Ron. She later told me that it felt like she'd lost a grandchild. That's how much Ron meant to my family. How much he _means_ to my family.

Do you remember when I asked my dad about why he was using the Hephaestus tech to heal Sideways? I thought it was because he wanted his invention to be used for something other than destruction. I was wrong. Dad told me it was to thank the Autobots. They helped me bring Ron home, and in doing so, made my family and Ron's family whole again. By saving Sideways, he was healing the Autobot family as they had healed ours.

Family is everything, and I don't just mean family you're related to by blood. Real family isn't just about genetics, but the family you choose; those people who are such an integral part of your life that they are really family. Ron was like that to my 'rents, and I was like that to his 'rents. Actually, Sideways, Windblade and some of the other Autobots were becoming that to me.

"You're on the authorized visitor's list, Colonel Possible," Agent Fowler said. "Whenever you want to come to Nevada, just let us know."

"Now that we have all the formalities out of the way," General Colton said, "let's get down to business." We all took a seat, and the general went into mission mode.

"Mech has been a thorn in our collective sides for a while now," General Colton said. "We have reason to believe that they've been providing weapons to both Cobra and VENOM. Those two groups are dangerous enough as it is without any outside help. And don't get me started on the foreign terrorist cells they've been supplying."

I nodded and looked over at my grandmother. "What can you tell us about Leland Bishop, other than the fact that he's a sadistic monster?"

She just shook her head. "Very little. I had long since retired when Bishop became the CO of Special Tactics. All I really know is what's in his file." She pulled a file folder out of the briefcase she had with her. "Military family, a technical genius, and able to think outside the box. Unfortunately, those last two qualities are what led him to perverting my organization into what it is now."

Nana looked me in the eyes. "I intended Special Tactics to be elite problem solvers; a place where the military and civilians could come together and use their intellects for the greater good." Nana's lips grew into a sad smile. "That's where I met your grandfather."

General Colton chuckled. "Loathe as I am to speak ill of the dead, I still haven't forgiven Nathaniel Possible for robbing me of an operative I had on my shortlist for the first G.I. Joe team."

I just learned something else. My grandmother was almost a Joe. My family had a very interesting history that I was just now learning. But there would be time for that later. "So, what can we do?" I asked. "Ron and Shego were both tortured by these monsters. They need to be brought to justice."

"Not to mention what he did to your friend with the detachable head," General Colton said, referring to an Autobot named Sideways.

"They have a lot to answer for," I agreed. "We just don't know where they are. They had an outpost in Siberia, which has since been destroyed, as well as one in Lowerton, which had very little usable intel."

"Do Shego and Stoppable know anything?" Colton asked.

I shook my head. "They were locked up. They had no idea where they were being held. Ron didn't see the light of day for six years. Shego had seen the sun, but only just enough to keep her powers fully charged."

Colton nodded. Then he looked over at Fowler. "Well, Bill, this is your show. Any ideas?"

Fowler smiled. "Fortunately, sir, when we got Agent Possible on our payroll, we also got a resource named Wade Load. He has an idea about those bombs in Shego's bloodstream..."

* * *

Wade was acting like a kid in a toy store. He ran through the halls of the _Ark,_ trying to memorize every deck plate, rivet and conduit of the Autobot ship. Normally I would have told him to get his head in the game, but not this time. I wasn't quite as enthusiastic when I first set foot on this ship, but I was so in awe. After a few moments of nearly hyperventilating, Wade calmed down, took a breath, and we made our way to the bridge. When we got there, the Autobots were waiting.

"Welcome to the _Ark,_ Wade," Optimus Prime said.

"Glad to be here," Wade said after a few stammering attempts. Optimus picked Wade up and placed him at my workstation. Wade then took a vial out of his pocket. It was one of the vials filled with the nanite infused blood that had been drawn from Shego back at base. The case it had been carried in was made of the same nonconductive Faraday cage material that Shego's dorm room was made of. We were safe down here, though. There was no way any signal from Silas could get through all this rock and alien metal. Still, better safe than sorry.

"Teletraan-1," Wade said aloud, "scan the nanotech in this vial." A soft blue light shot down from the ceiling and ran over the vial.

"Scanned," the Autobot supercomputer said. "Awaiting further instructions."

Wade looked over at me and the others. "I'm hoping that Teletraan-1 can create a virtual nanite, and then trace the command signals it receives back to the source."

"Didn't you try something like that already?" I asked.

"Yes, but I'm hoping that Autobot tech might have more luck than simple human tech does."

"Then by all means, Wade," Optimus said, "please proceed."

Wade nodded. "I should warn you, this could take a while. A long while."

* * *

Normally, whenever Wade said things could take a while, or that a task could be impossible, he would finish what he was doing before he could finish protesting. Not this time. This time he had to backtrack the detonation signal through spy satellites, global positioning satellites, TV and radio satellites, and then finally Mech's own communication satellites.

That took a few days, even with Teletraan-1. That should tell you how tough Mech's encryptions were. Wade was good, and with an alien supercomputer, he should have been an unstoppable hacking machine! Mech's code was just that complex.

But Wade did crack the code, which is why I was sitting in Sideways' vehicle mode on a back road in rural Montana. I was kind of surprised by this, actually. We were only about a hundred miles away from my Uncle Slim's ranch. It made me worried, to be honest. Uncle Slim was a brilliant robotics expert. If this particular Mech stronghold was this close to Uncle Slim, it made me wonder if Mech was going to go after his tech. There was no way I was going to let this happen!

I was drumming my fingers on Sideways' steering wheel. "Keep that up and you'll knock my wheel off," he said, snapping me out of my thoughts.

I put my hands in my lap. "Sorry." All this waiting was getting to me. Sideways and I were waiting for the go signal.

Wade had nailed down the Mech base's location to within fifty square miles, which was still a lot of road to cover. Like I said, we were on a county road. There were only a few cars that came by, and none of them stopped to see why a black and silver two door coup was sitting at the side of the road. That was a real plus to Sideways' new alt mode. He certainly had the "robots in disguise" part down.

"Shanix for your thoughts," Sideways said. On Cybertron, shanix was what was used for currency, like energon shards were used on Caminus.

"Just really mad and worried," I told him. I explained that my uncle was, relatively speaking, pretty close by, and that his tech was something Silas would love to get his hands on. The only upside was the fact that my cousin Joss was away at college. We sat in silence for a moment. "Can I ask you something?"

"You just did," he said with a chuckle. "Go ahead."

"Why this vehicle mode? You had your choice of anything, so why this?"

"I thought that would be obvious. I can fit in easier."

Okay, that made sense. His last alternate mode, a monster motorcycle and a heavily armored rider, stood out more than I would in a room full of brunettes.

"Not even holomatter would cover up my old rider mode," Sideways continued. "I could only leave the base when we had missions far away from population centers. Now I can drive off base whenever I want. Well, I will be able to once I get my holomatter avatar."

"I understand," I told him. I hadn't even considered that Sideways would have been confined to base when he didn't have Decepticons to bash on.

We sat in silence for another few minutes. I was about to say something when the comm went off. "Check in," Arcee said. "No sign of Mech activity on my end."

"Same here," Bumblebee replied.

"And here," said Bulkhead. "Just a lot of cows."

"Nothing here, either," Sideways added. "Hey, Wade, any chance of nailing down the location a little closer?"

"This is as close as I could get you guys," was Wade's response. He was back at the _Ark_ with Ratchet, Kup, and Windblade. They were our backup. The Maximals were also on standby, as were the Dinobots. Optimus Prime made sure we had all our bases covered.

Speaking of Optimus, he hadn't checked in yet. "Optimus?" I said. "Is everything all right where you are?"

"No sign of Mech activity," he said after a moment's hesitation. I wasn't the only one who caught it.

"What are you thinking, Optimus?" Arcee asked.

"We're being watched," he said. "We anticipated that we would be, and we did our best to scramble our communications, but nearly all of us have vehicle modes that Mech is familiar with."

"Everyone except me," Sideways said. "But I'm still sitting out in the open, so if Mech sees me, they'll still know we're up to something."

I sat there, thinking. Our communications were scrambled, hopefully enough that Silas and his cronies wouldn't be able to eavesdrop on us, and they wouldn't recognize Sideways. "Maybe we should call them out then," I finally said. I was expecting a chorus of voices telling me how stupid an idea that was, with Optimus Prime being the loudest voice in that chorus, but it never happened.

"That might not be a bad idea," Optimus said. "As you said, Sideways, Mech has no idea what you look like now, but they will be aware that are, as you pointed out, 'up to something.' We should use this to our advantage."

I took a deep breath. It was time. "You ready for this?" I asked Sideways.

"More than," was the reply.

"Okay, "I said. "Unscramble our signals and let's see who's listening. Hey, Silas!" I called out once the signal was clear. "I know you're out here, and I know you can see us. Why not be a gracious host and open the door? I mean, I did go through all the trouble to find your address, after all."

There was silence for what seemed like forever. Part of me knew Silas might not take the bait. He was a military genius, after all. But he was also a bully, and bullies couldn't resist going after a potential victim.

"Well, well, well. Agent Possible. I wondered who was in that little two door." Silas sounded as calm and arrogant as ever. And it seemed like he didn't know the car I was in was an Autobot. "I would ask how you found us, but to be honest, I don't really care. You've been an annoyance for too long."

"I was thinking the same thing about you," I retorted. "Let's end this right here and right now. Just you and me. Optimus and the others don't need to know where I am. In fact, I'll turn off my transponder right now."

"I don't think so," as the reply. "I will admit that you're closer to us than I would like, so I think I'll keep you in the dark about where we actually are. Besides, I have a hard time believing that the car you're in hasn't been upgraded by either the Autobots, or that idiot Trakker and his MASK technicians."

"Sounds to me like you're scared," I said in a taunting voice. "You hid your face behind a mask, your identity behind a pretty stupid alias, and now you're hiding from little old me. You are such the coward! You blasted Bueno Nacho Headquarters from orbit, and tortured two helpless captives. It probably made you feel like a big man, didn't it?"

Silas only chuckled. "I'm not some super villain you can play mind games with, kid," he said, a little more curtly than I think he intended. "In the grand scheme of things, you mean nothing. In fact, you mean less than nothing! I'm not going to waste my time with you." And with that, he cut off communications.

"Well," Sideways said, "it worked in theory, at least."

"Yeah," I grumbled as I switched back to the scrambled frequency. "Unfortunately, I'm out of ideas."

"Then it's a good thing I'm here," Wade said. "I was able to track his signal while you were egging him on! I found them."

A grin came to my face. "Spankin.' I think it's time to go say hello."

* * *

The main base was only twelve miles from where Sideways and I were parked. It was underneath an old, dilapidated barn on unused farmland. Sideways and I made a beeline for them, while the other Autobots bridged back to base. It was faster to ground bridge back to the _Ark ,_ and then ground bridge to the barn than it was to just drive straight there. Sideways and I were going to be on our own for a while. That was fine with both of us. We had some payback to dish out.

We came to a stop and I got out. Sideways stayed in vehicle mode. There was no need to show our hand just yet. It was, however, past time to get Silas to come out and play. He had to know we were there, and if I knew him half as well as I thought I did, I knew he would be so ticked off that I'd found him.

I decided to play the waiting game. Besides, that gave the rest of the team time to get to the barn and give us some much needed backup. That was the plan, anyway. Silas had plans of his own.

No sooner had we pulled into the barn than a section of floor opened, allowing an elevator platform with a dozen Mech troopers to emerge. Silas was front and center, decked out in what looked like the Project Circuit Breaker battlesuit.

"I should have known you would find us," he snarled. "You're like a bad penny that keeps coming back."

I powered up my suit, bringing the weapon systems up to full. "You and I have some unfinished business," I said. "For killing Drakken, kidnapping Ron and Shego and then torturing them, and for what you did to Sideways, I am taking you down." My helmet closed over my head, and the visor and faceplate snapped into place. I deployed my blades and got into a fighting stance. "Let's do this."

Mech's leader just chuckled. "One of you against all of us? You're even dumber than I thought."

"She's not alone." Sideways transformed to robot mode and deployed his guns. "Remember me, Silas?" he asked with venom in his voice. "The name is Sideways. You know, the 'bot you butchered and rebuilt into a Frankenstein mockery of what I used to be?"

"Project Cy-Kill," Silas said in an almost hushed voice. "How did this happen?"

"For us to know and for you to never find out," I snarled. "You can't win, Silas. It's over. Lower your weapons, put your hands up, and surrender. Now!"

"How cute," Silas sneered. "Yet again you think you've won. You and what army, kid?"

The ground bridge opened behind us, and the Autobots came filing out in their robot modes, weapons fully deployed. "That one," I said in a matter of fact tone.

Optimus stepped forward. "There are no innocent lives for you to cower behind this time, Silas. Surrender."

Silas didn't speak. He just held his left hand up, then pointed forward. His forces attacked, and we were ready for them.

Since we were far away from prying eyes, nothing was held back. And since this particular barn was already on its last legs, and the field didn't belong to anyone, we weren't too concerned about property damage. Neither was Mech.

Energy beams punched holes in the rotten wood of the barn. Considering the fact that those beams could do worse to me, I was glad the walls took the hits. I was dodging blasts as much as I could, but the energy beams moved, literally, at the speed of light. By the time I saw them, it was already too late. Fortunately, I had really good shields. Unfortunately, those shields were already being taxed by the hits they were taking.

I needed room to move. I aimed my own blaster at one of the walls, fired, and ran for the wide open spaces. Surprisingly, Silas followed me. That made me suspicious. He so had to be up to something. I decided it was best not to let on that I knew he had something up his sleeve. I would play along for now.

I turned to face Silas, and powered up my energon blades, making them crackle with light. "Ready to dance?" I snarled.

"Ready to finally get you out of my hair," was the response.

I scanned the suit he was wearing, and Silas himself. The last thing I wanted to do was waste time on a synthodrone. He was human, and the suit was much more advanced than the one they had put Ron in back in Lowerton. I hoped that my own power suit was more advanced than his. I was more than ready to end this.

Like I said, I learned my lessons. I decided to take the same approach Snake Eyes took with me when we sparred at the Pit. I decided to wait Silas out. Let him fight himself so I didn't have to. He had discipline, but not nearly as much as an Arishikage ninja.

He clenched his fists, unclenched them and flexed his fingers, then clenched his fists again. He circled me, and I followed. I didn't attack. I didn't make it look like I was going to attack. I was patient. I was waiting. And I was so tweaking Silas off.

"What's your game, Possible?" he demanded. He was getting twitchy. He wanted to move, to fight, as much as I did, but I had the better control.

I didn't respond. I was using silence as another weapon. I wanted to make him mad, and it was working. Hopefully he would get mad enough to trip himself up. I understood why Snake Eyes used this tactic on me, and on other people he sparred against. This was his way of making his opponents fight themselves.

I remembered what Scarlet had told me, that I lasted longer without attacking than anyone else. That had to be why Snake Eyes broke with his pattern and attacked me first. He knew that I was patient, and that I wasn't fighting my own instincts nearly as much as other people he had faced. It was totally brilliant, too. Make your enemy fight himself. That's what I was doing to Silas, and it was working.

He lashed out with a series of battlesuit enhanced punches. I easily dodged them. "Come on and fight me!" he bellowed. I ignored him and continued to wait him out. "You were saying how much you wanted a piece of me!" He aimed a kick at my head, which I blocked with a quick sweep of my left arm. "Well here I am! Fight me, dammit!" Another flurry of punches came at me, and I blocked them all without even starting to breathe heavy.

This continued for I don't know how long. He would yell and scream, and he would send punch after kick my way, and none of them hit their mark. And with each successive attack, he got weaker and more tired. I was so going to have to thank Snake Eyes for this. I got a combat lesson as well as a bucket list sparring session. Not only that, but I was getting what I needed to take this creep out.

Silas launched some totally weak-sauce punches at me. The last one I caught in the palm of my hand. He looked at me with a shocked expression on his face. "Wha-?"

"Finished?" I asked in a casual voice. "Good. Because class in now in session." I squeezed his fist until I heard bones start to pop. He let out a pained groan, and I forcefully released (and by that, I mean I threw) his fist. I think I dislocated his shoulder when I did it. Ask me if I care. Actually, I do care. Her deserved all the hurt I could dish out.

"This is for Shego," I snarled as I kicked Silas in the chest, knocking him back. "This is for Drakken!" An uppercut sent Silas flying backwards. He landed flat on his back. I let him get back up. "This is for Sandy Carrington, the innocent cleaning lady you blew up!" I landed a right cross, followed by a left. "This is for Hana, and all the years she spent without her brother!" A punch to the gut doubled him over. "This is for Ron, and all the years of torture!" A knee to the face sent him flying backwards. Blood exploded from his now shattered nose.

I stalked up to him, and glared down at his prone form. "Let me guess," he said in a nasally voice, "the next hit is for you?"

I placed my foot on his throat. He let out a panicked, gurgling sound. "No, Bishop, this is for me. You have the right to remain silent. If you give up that right, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you can't afford one, an attorney will be provided to you at no cost. Do you understand these rights?" He didn't answer. He just groaned. "I'll take that as a yes." I retracted my helmet and gave him a smirk. "Oh, and this is also for me." I released his throat, bent down, and punched him in the face. He was out cold. "Booyah."

I looked over at the Autobots just in time to see Sideways finish disabling the heavy weapons of a few Mech troopers. He came over to me and looked down on Leland Bishop's bloodied form. "Payback's a glitch," he said with venom in his voice.

"Not the word I would have chosen," I said, "but it works." I looked back at the extremely one-sided battle. Mech was so being taken down. And with their leader now in custody, this organization's days were officially over. I got on my comm. "Possible to Witwicky. Silas is down, and the rest of his goons are right behind him. Send in the clean up team."

"Acknowledged, Possible," Spike Witwicky said. "Good work."

I looked down at Silas again. I could very easily have crushed his windpipe and ended his miserable life, but that would have been the easy way out. He stole six years from Ron and Shego, and he stole the lives of countless others. He would pay by spending the rest of his life locked away.

I looked up at Sideways. "We're done here."

* * *

Silas had a broken nose, a dislocated shoulder, and a broken hand. And that was with me restraining myself. When I went to his holding cell, he had been patched up, and put in the same style of jumpsuit Shego had been wearing after we got her out of the Lowerton facility. He growled at me as I entered the holding area.

Unlike Shego, who basically lived in a dorm room, the leader of Mech was in an actual jail cell, complete with metal bars. "So much for the laws against cruel and unusual punishment," he said when he saw me. "If you think you've seen the last of me or Mech, you are sadly mistaken."

"Keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better," I said. I felt no need to tell him that we had decrypted his entire database, and were now rounding up every member of Mech in every military and government organization in the United States, as well as their operatives in Global Justice. Mech was as good as dead. I could have gloated, but I didn't really feel like it. I was there for one last look at the monster who caused so much pain.

"What do you want?" Silas demanded. "To know why I kidnapped your stupid friend?"

I didn't answer. This whole cell block was under surveillance, and the recordings would be used in his trial. I wasn't going to bring up Ron's monkey powers, or the fact that Silas wanted them. I didn't even bring up the fact that he had used Ron's instinctive knowledge of monkey kung-fu to program his Circuit Breaker synthodrone with.

"Or did you want to know why I put him in the Circuit Breaker suit back in Lowerton?"

"I already know the answer to that one," I said. "I know how evil you are. You were forcing Ron to fight me, and possibly kill me. You were still torturing him. And if I had seriously hurt or even killed Ron while defending myself, I would have had to live with the fact that Ron had died at my hands for the rest of my life. It would have destroyed me. You're a bully. You're easy to figure out."

"So now he's free," Silas said in a taunting voice. "Do you think he'll ever forgive you for the way you turned your back on him all those years ago?"

Before I could answer, a voice from behind me said, "I already have." I turned around and saw Ron. He was using a cane instead of the crutches. He was showing Silas that he was getting stronger. He strode confidently to the bars of Bishop's cell. "This is goodbye, Silas," Ron said in an even voice. "The next time I'm going to see you is when I testify against you for what you did to me."

Silas only chuckled. "You're not free! I'm going to be in that head of yours for the rest of your life."

Ron reached for my hand, which I gladly gave him. He squeezed, as if needing reassurance and strength. I returned the gesture, showing him that I had his back. Silas noticed this.

"Oh, how precious," he said in a mocking voice. "And how long is this going to last, huh? She ditched you for a pretty face once before! How do you know she won't do it again?"

"Because I know her," Ron said. He released my hand and turned to leave. He took a few steps, stopped, and looked over his shoulder. "You're right. You will be in my head for the rest of my life. Just like KP will be in your head for the rest of your life. Have fun reliving that ass kicking she gave you." A grin spread to Ron's lips. "I know I will."

* * *

There was a lot of paperwork to do; after action reports, stuff like that. It took a long time to get through it all, too. It was close to midnight when I finished everything, and I still hadn't eaten dinner. I had a sandwich from the cafeteria that I had grabbed earlier and completely forgotten about, but after five hours, the egg salad was so unappetizing.

I hit "send" on my report and was getting ready to leave for the night when my office phone rang. I thought about letting it go to voicemail, but then I remembered that the last call I got on this line was from Megatron. If the Decepticon leader was calling back, it might be important. I picked up and said, "Possible."

"Kim? Wait, it's got to be close to midnight, why are you still there?"

I smiled, recognizing the voice immediately. "I could ask you the same question, Bonnie." Surprised? Don't be. Bonnie and I came to an understanding our senior year.

Every Fourth of July, the Cheer Squad would have a fundraising picnic and barbecue. I used that day to inform the girls that I was stepping down as captain and quitting the team. Bonnie threw a conniption fit.

"So just because that loser croaked, we have to suffer?" she demanded in a whiny voice. "That is so not fair! I may hate listening to you, K, but you've actually managed to bring us some championships! And now, because of this, I'm going to lose!"

I completely lost my cool. "Dammit, Bonnie, it's not about you!" I snapped. Her eyes opened wide with shock that I had just screamed at her. "It's not about you," I repeated, "and it's not about me! It never was! It should be about Ron!"

"But-" she started to say. I didn't let her finish.

"I learned what's really important," I said, "and winning at all costs isn't it! I just hope you don't have to lose the person you love most in the world to learn that lesson. You're talking about losing championships and competitions. I lost my best friend. There will always be other meets and contests. There will never be another Ron Stoppable."

It took a while, the rest of the summer, in fact, but it got through to her. Bonnie and I weren't friends by any stretch of the imagination, but there was a respect there. That's why I wasn't surprised by her call.

"Yeah, well, I'm an insomniac these days," Bonnie said. Then she went quiet for a moment. "Is it true?" she asked in a quiet voice. "Is Ron really alive?"

"It's true," I said. "He'll be strong enough to go back to Middleton soon."

There was another silence. "If he's coming home, then we're going to do this right." I could hear the smile in Bonnie's voice. "Leave it to me, K! I'll put together the best welcome home party ever!"

* * *

Agent Fowler gave me some much needed downtime after the final Mech mission. I had intended to get some rest, and get settled into my apartment some more, but some people had other plans. Instead of being curled up on my new couch reading a book, I was on stage. This wasn't the kind of music I would normally listen to, let alone do what I was doing, but I let my body move with the melody. I was there against my own better judgement, and despite myself, I was having a pretty good time.

The instrumental bridge ended, and I took a breath, filling my lungs. The acoustic guitar built up, and the lyrics returned to the screen in front of me. I opened my mouth and let those words spill out.

"How I wish, how I wish you were here," I sang. "We're just two lost souls swimming in a fishbowl, year after year. Running over the same old ground, and how we found, the same old fears. Wish you were here." And with that, I let the music fade out, along with the karaoke screen.

The crowd hooted and hollered as I got off stage and rejoined Monique, June Darby, and Marissa Fairbourn. They were all clapping louder than anyone else.

"Not bad for someone who says she doesn't listen to Pink Floyd," June said. She was a nurse with Unit E who had been caring for Ron.

Beside her was Marissa, a fellow agent, as well as the daughter of two members of G.I. Joe. She was more than a little tipsy. She gestured over to a nearby table. "They shent over another round," she slurred.

"I think you've had enough," I said.

"Come on, Poshible, live a little!" Marissa leaned in close, and I could smell the vodka on her breath. "Maybe one of us will get lucky."

I rolled my eyes. "I have a boyfriend," I said. "One who, I might add, I have a hot date with tomorrow night."

Monique nudged my shoulder. "I want a full, uncensored and unedited account of all the night's festivities. And I do mean _all_ of them!"

I shot her a look. "Sorry, Mon, but I don't kiss and tell."

"Who said anything about kissing?" Mon asked. "I'm talking about you two doing the mattress mambo! The nasty! You know, getting it on!"

"Why do you care?" I asked her.

"Well, I'm not getting any," she said. "I might as well live vicariously through someone who is." She looked over to Marissa. "And I don't go home with random guys I meet in bars, either."

"Neither will she," June said. "I'm her ride home." To emphasize her point, she took another drink of the water she had sitting in front of her. I was also teetotalling this evening. I was Monique's designated driver. It was my job to make sure she made it to her flight home on time in the morning, whether she was hungover or not.

The sound of someone trying, and failing, to sing a Queen song just like Freddie Mercury assaulted our ears. I looked at the stage, and it was one of the guys who had been sending drinks our way all night. I shook my head.

"Oh, dear God," June said, laughing, "he's doing air guitar."

I laughed out loud. "Still want to get lucky with one of those guys?" I asked Marissa. But she didn't answer. She was passed out face first on our table.

"And on that note, ladies," June said, standing up, "I think it's time to head out."

I couldn't have agreed more. I looked at my companions for the night and smiled. It had been a long time since I had done a girls' night out. I hadn't realized how much I needed it. We got Marissa to June's car, and then Mo and I went to mine.

* * *

I saw Mon and Felix off the next morning. I got the big hug from Monique I expected, as well as her promise that she would be at Ron's welcome home party. Felix was more subdued. He knew he and his boss were on thin ice about hiding a Vehicon drone from us. And he knew that he had a long way to go to patching up his friendship with Ron. I told him that going to the party would go a long way towards making things right. I could only hope he listened to me.

The rest of the day was me getting ready for my date. I hadn't been on one since college. I told Ron that I had been on only two dates in six years. One was with a real creep named Garrison Blackrock. That was a huge mistake. He was using me to improve his reputation. He was one of those rich pretty boys, and for some reason, he felt he still needed to look like a big man on campus. Granted, that campus was Stanford, and there were people there who had more money than he did, but still.

The second was with a real sweet guy named Bradly White, or "Rad" to his friends. Why Rad? Don't ask me. He said his parents were real 1980's aficionados. Our date turned into the two of us talking about missed opportunities; me and Ron, and Rad and a girl he knew named Alexis. We decided that, although the date was nice, we were better off as friends. Besides, we were still too hung up on those missed opportunities to really move on.

When I got to the Unit E base, I made a beeline for Ron's room in the infirmary. I was wearing a green long sleeve shirt and a matching skirt. I had a paper shopping bag in my hand and a smile on my face. Ron was going to love his surprise!

When I got to his room, Ron was coming out of the bathroom. He had just shaved, and was wearing only a pair of black cargo pants. Ron was still really thin. I wasn't used to that, or to the almost countless scars on his body.

"Oh, uh, hey, KP," he said nervously. It looked like he wanted to cover himself. I set down the bag and took his hands.

"You don't have to be embarrassed with me, Ron. Ever. These…" I looked at the crisscross of stab wounds, the burns, and one bullet wound, "are signs that you're a survivor." They were also signs that I had abandoned him, but I thought that was better left unsaid.

"I know," he said uncomfortably. "It's just, I was never a catch before, and now…"

I silenced him with a kiss. "I love you for who you are, Ron Stoppable. Not what you look like. But if you really want to cover up, I have just the thing." I went for the bag and pulled out a black, long sleeved shirt. I gave it to Ron and he slipped it on. "There's something missing," I said. Then I snapped my fingers. "I know!" I reached into the bag again and pulled out a red, short sleeve jersey.

"Booyah!" Ron exclaimed. He took the shirt from my grasp, and was about to put it on when he got a good look at it. "Wait, is this one of my old ones?"

I smiled and nodded. "I asked your 'rents if I could have them. I would sometimes sleep in one of them. The rest of them, like this one, were folded up in my dresser. It was like having a piece of you with me. Now finish getting dressed and let's get going. We have a date to get to!"

We went to a nice but not fancy restaurant, and then we went to the new _Zombie Mayhem_ movie. Ron was totally in heaven. I had shown him the first two while he was in the infirmary, and now he got the chance to see one in the theater. It wasn't my kind of movie, but like I told Bonnie all those years ago, this wasn't about me. This was about Ron. For the first time since Diablo Night, he was able to get out and actually live.

After the movie, we went for a walk in the park, then we went back to my place. Ron was amused by how… spartan my apartment was. I had a couch, a coffee table, no TV, and only one end table with a lamp. The bedroom had slightly more to it; a queen size bed, dresser, and nightstand. I spent more time at work than at home, and when I was at home, I was asleep. The bed made more sense than the couch, really.

We sat in the living room and talked. Well, that was what we planned on doing. Then the make out session started. Then hands started to wander. And then, well…

The first time wasn't so great. It was awkward, a little uncomfortable, and over much more quickly than either of us had wanted. The second time, though, that was just… booyah.

I know I said we were going to take things slow, but in this case, we made an exception. We lay together, wrapped in each other's arms and entangled in the sheets, just enjoying being close. My head was resting on Ron's chest, and I could hear his heartbeat. It was so relaxing. I was very close to falling asleep when Ron shifted and placed a gentle kiss on my head.

"I love you," he said.

I let out a contented sigh and said, "I love you, too."

"I never thought I'd ever get to do this," he said.

"What's that?" I asked. "Make love with me?"

"Make love with anyone." Ron shifted again so we were side by side, facing each other. "I wasn't sure how long I was going to live, KP. I mean, after everything those guys did to me when I was their prisoner, there were days when I thought they were going to kill me." He closed his eyes and was quiet for a minute. "There were days that I wanted them to kill me, just so the pain would stop."

I leaned in and kissed him. "You're safe now," I said. "You're free, and there is no way Mech will ever be able to hurt you again."

"I can still see it, though, Kim! Some nights I have nightmares about it! There are times that I'm afraid to go to sleep because I think that, when I wake up, I'll be back in that cell."

I caressed Ron's cheek. His hand, almost on its own, went to my chest. He wasn't feeling me up, he was running his fingers over the "Never Be Normal" tattoo I had over my heart. He touched it a lot when we were making love. Well, when he wasn't touching other things.

I put my hand on his and held it close to me. "It's going to be a long road," I said. "But you're not alone. I've already called the psychiatrist I saw after you were taken. His name is Dr. Phil Dale, and he helped me get through some pretty dark times."

"Yeah, he called me already to set up some appointments after I'm back in Middleton." Ron looked me in the eyes. "I'm going to miss you when I go back."

I smiled at him. "I'm going to miss you, too. But Middleton is only a couple hours away from here by air. And in an emergency, I'm sure the Autobots will let me use the ground bridge to get to you. You will never be anyone's prisoner again, Ron. I promise." It was my turn to be silent. "I have another promise to make," I finally said. "I know I can't give you back those years that were taken from you, or make up for my role in you being taken, but I promise, I swear on my life, that I will make every year we have together the best years of our lives!"

Ron wiped a tear from his eyes. "Are you proposing?"

I let out a chuckle. "No," I said. "We only just got together. Although, the thought of spending the rest of my life with you is so appealing." I kissed Ron again and held him close to me. "I finally have you back, Ron. I am never letting go. Ever."

Ron kissed me, and then we went for round three.

* * *

In a way, I had become friends with Oklahoma. I'd even heard about this western themed amusement park in Oklahoma City called Frontier City. I thought it would be a fun place for Ron and me to check out sometime. But that wasn't why I was here. I was in the panhandle on a spider hunt.

My power suit's scanners were attuned to BlackArachnia's unique bio-signature. Optimus Prime and I were both on the scene, but the big 'bot was staying back. The last time he and the spider lady tangled, he wound up with a nasty dose of cyber venom. She didn't like me all that much, either, but at least she didn't want to send me to the scrap heap.

I came to a deep cave. I shrugged off the backpack I was wearing. "I know you're in there!" I called out. "I'm not here to fight. Just to talk."

A giant spider that looked like a mishmash of organic and mechanical parts came out. "Great," she said. "A salesman." She leaped into the air and transformed, the grinding noise that went with it was labored and painful sounding. She looked down at me. "What do you want?"

I retracted my helmet. "You've learned English," I observed.

"I kind of had to," she said. "I needed to know what you freaky little things were saying, didn't I?"

"I'll let the insult slide this time," I said. I opened the pack and pulled out a Cybertronian data pad. I offered it to her. "This is a map of all energon deposits in the area. I figured you might be hungry."

BlackArachnia started to reach for it, then stopped. "Why should I trust you?"

I lowered my arm, and the pad. "Fine. Don't take it."

BlackArachnia quickly swiped it from me, and gave me a dirty look. "Did Orion send you?" she asked, referring to Optimus by his original name.

"He came with me," I said. "He's a few miles back, waiting for me. Or waiting for the all clear to come and see you. He misses you."

The spider lady let out a disgusted grunt. "Yeah, right. He really misses the freak." She lowered her head. "He misses the 'bot he didn't trust."

"He trusted you," I said. "He didn't trust Sentinel Prime. Optimus thought Sentinel was making a play for you."

"I was a big girl," BlackArachnia huffed. "I didn't need Orion to protect me."

"He's a guy," I said. "Sometimes they feel like they have to be the big protectors. It's the same here on Earth." I was glad that Ron never pulled that on me, even when we were just friends. I wound up protecting him more than he did me.

"Why do you care?" BlackArachnia's eyes were boring into me, trying to see what I was thinking.

"Optimus is my friend, and he's hurting," I said. "He loves you. He never stopped. He wants to help you if you'll let him." I held my hand up to my ear, ready to activate my commlink. "He can be here in a few minutes if you want to talk to him."

She looked like she was about to say something, then stopped. "No," she said quietly.

I lowered my hand. "Okay." I reached into my bag and produced another data pad. "This has a complete history of Cybertron from the time you went missing, to the day the planet's core shut down and the population had to evacuate. Everything is there. Optimus left nothing out."

She hesitated, then took the pad. "Tell me something," she said. "Why do you follow him? He's not from your planet. He's not your species. He's not even the same kind of lifeform as you! Why do you trust him?"

"He's tried to help my people,"' I replied. "He's been protecting us from the Decepticons. And he helped me get Ron back. He returned the person I love most to me. But more than that, I trust him with my life, BlackArachnia. Optimus Prime has never done me or my world any wrong." I turned to walk off, knowing that this encounter was over, and that Optimus wouldn't be able to plead his case to her. "But more than that, he's my friend, and friends help each other."

A few minutes later, I met up with Optimus where we had ground bridged in. He was still in vehicle mode. "I'm sorry," I said. "She didn't want to talk to you."

Optimus opened his passenger side door. "Thank you for trying, Kim," he said. "Did you give her the maps and the history?" I nodded that I had. "Thank you." We sat in silence for a moment. "I will not attempt to find her again," he finally said. "She has made the decision to sever ties with me. I will not be one of those, I believe the human word is 'stalkers,' who can't take no for an answer."

"Don't give up on her," I said. "I think there's a part of her that misses you as much as you miss her."

"It must be her decision," Optimus said. "I won't make it for her. In the meantime, we have work to do." With that, Optimus called for the ground bridge, and we went home.

* * *

"What are we doing here, KP?"

Three weeks had passed, and Ron had been released to go back to Middleton. Unit E had found a doctor and physical therapist to work on the rest of Ron's rehabilitation, and he was going to be seeing my old shrink, Dr. Dale. We had arrived back in our hometown a few hours ago and, after getting Ron reacquainted with the place, we headed off to the Middleton Convention Center. The sign out front said, "Reserved for a Private Event."

I smiled and took Ron's hand. "You'll see. Now come on."

The main hall was dark when we walked through the doors, and remained that way for half a heartbeat. The lights came up, and the assembled group shouted, "Welcome back!"

Ron stumbled back, but I helped him stay on his feet. I was almost wishing he had brought his cane, but he was trying to walk without it whenever he could. This stumble wasn't because of his injuries, though. This was surprise.

Before us stood all of Ron's friends, and those who were barely friends. A large banner that read, "Welcome Home, Ron" was strung across the room. Beneath it stood Wade, Monique, and even Felix. Tara, who was now working as a reporter for the _Middleton Inquirer,_ was the first to come up to Ron, kiss him on the cheek, and embrace him. Bonnie, yes Bonnie, soon followed.

"Good to have you back, loser," she said with a smile. She then came over to me, letting the rest of the cheer squad reunite with our long absent mascot.

"Nice job, B," I said. Securing the whole convention center, getting the decorations, and rounding up our old classmates couldn't have been easy.

"You gave me plenty of lead time," Bonnie said. "Besides," she looked over at an overwhelmed Ron being showered with hugs and kisses, "this was about him."

Bonnie had changed over the years. I'd like to think my "It's not about you" speech had something to do with it, but I think she just grew up. She stopped comparing herself to her sisters, and decided to find out who Bonnie Rockwaller really was. Now she ran a dance school in Upperton, and was doing quite well for herself.

Bonnie looked over at me. "You two looked chummy. Are you finally…?"

"Yes," I smiled. "It took six years longer than it should have, but we're together."

"Good," Bonnie said. "Maybe now you'll forgive yourself."

"I'm trying. It might still take a while." I looked back over at the various happy reunions happening. Ron was finally, _finally,_ talking to Wade. Maybe the whole of Team Possible would be back on the same page sooner rather than later.

I went to the refreshment table and got a soda, then sat down. Like Bonnie said, this was about Ron right now. It was also about the rest of his friends. I'd had weeks to reconnect with him, and now it was their turn. After the party was over, I'd have him to myself again. We'd need that time, too. I was going back to Jasper in the morning. Mech may have been gone, but Megatron and the Decepticons were still out there.

I took this assignment thinking it would be temporary. I would help Unit E take Mech out, get justice for Ron, and finally get the closure I needed. I got so much more than that. I made new friends, and had a new family in the Autobots. I found Ron alive, and brought him home. I was even able to go from unrequited love to a full on relationship.

My name is Kim Possible. I'm a former world saving teen hero, a former Global Justice agent, and a current agent with Unit E. I'm assigned to the Autobots, a team of shape changing robots from the planet Cybertron, and I'm helping them in their battle to destroy the evil forces of the Decepticons.

I'm also a very lucky woman. I got what most people don't. I got a second chance. I'm going to cherish it, and Ron, for as long as I live. I would be going back to Jasper, Nevada tomorrow morning, but the rest of the night belonged to Ron Stoppable. I stood up and went to join the party. We had all more than earned it.

* * *

 _ **And that, as they say, is that! This story has taken the longest to get out of any story I've written for this site. I've experienced the end of my radio career, a dead computer, several different jobs, and a move in the time I've worked on this. I'm surprised I got it done. Thank you all so much for being patient with me.**_

 _ **What's next? I don't know. I'm probably going back into semi-retirement, but that could change with the right story idea. Until then, this is Waveform saying, thanks for all the support!**_


End file.
